Resistance training, lower television viewing help reduce CVD risk in women
19 hours ago
High intensity impact and resistance training consists of intense strength and cardiovascular exercises.Women who engage in resistance training regularly, particularly when combined with recommended levels of aerobic activity and reduced sedentary television viewing, appear to be at significantly lower risk of major cardiovascular disease (CVD), suggests a US study.
A total of 5,459 incident major CVD events occurred over a mean follow-up of 14.5 years. Women who did resistance training ≥2 h/week had a 20-percent lower risk of major CVD (hazard ratio [HR], 0.80, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.69‒0.92; ptrend=0.007) than those who did not.
Moreover, each additional 1 h/week of resistance training resulted in a 5-percent CVD risk reduction (HR, 0.95, 95 percent CI, 0.92‒0.99). The benefit was more pronounced for myocardial infarction (HR for ≥2 h/wk vs none, 0.56, 95 percent CI, 0.41‒0.76) but did not reach statistical significance for stroke (HR, 0.99, 95 percent CI, 0.80‒1.23).
Women who met the recommended levels for aerobic activity (≥15 metabolic equivalent of task hours per week), resistance training (≥1 h/week), and low sedentary television viewing (<2 h/day) had a lower risk of major CVD (HR, 0.60, 95 percent CI, 0.53‒0.69) than those who met recommendations for aerobic and low sedentary television viewing but not resistance training (HR, 0.73, 95 percent CI, 0.67‒0.80).
“Greater consistency in maintaining resistance training (≥75 percent of follow-up) and engaging in both upper and lower limb training were associated with stronger inverse associations,” the investigators said.
This prospective cohort study included 117,025 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and Nurses’ Health Study II, with up to five repeated assessments of physical activity. Resistance training was reported every 4 years. The investigators also calculated time-varying cumulative averages to represent long-term exposure.
Incident major CVD, the primary outcome, was defined as nonfatal or fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary artery bypass grafting, or percutaneous coronary intervention.