[Physical activity as component of cardiovascular disease prevention in elderly people]

Prolongation of human life span is considered a tremendous achievement of modern medical sciences. However, it implies simultaneously a quite new challenge relevant to health problems of getting older populations. For elderly people, intensification of physical activity constitutes not only a component of great importance for maintaining a good-quality life, but also for prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The paper presents the state of art of physical training features in relation to physiologic aging processes. Specificity of risk factors of cardiovascular diseases in the elderly, i.e., arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and obesity, was also discussed. The review of data indicating a beneficial effect of intensified physical activity, both in primary and secondary prevention of CAD in the old population, which is at the highest risk of cardiovascular diseases occurrence, was displayed, either. Finally, some problems and shortcomings encountered in every-day medical practice in the field of introducing and performing cardiac rehabilitation in elderly people were emphasized.