Physical activity, physical fitness, and cardiovascular risk factors

Physical activity at work and during leisure time, physical fitness, and cardiovascular risk factors are analysed in a birth cohort of 577 Danish men examined in 1976 at age 40 and in 1987 at age 51. Despite increasing age, the physical activity over the 11 years was relatively constant during leisure time, but decreasing at work. While there was no correlation between socioeconomic status and physical activity during leisure time at age 40, there was a clear tendency towards greater activity among those belonging to the higher social strata in the study of the 51-year-old. At both time points, there was a negative correlation between socio-economic status and physical activity at work; that is, physical activity at work decreases with increasing socio-economic status. There was no tendency towards a more beneficial cardiovascular risk profile among those increasing their physical activity during leisure time as compared with those with a constant or decreasing activity. As expected, physical activity during leisure time correlated with the cardiovascular risk factors, whereas physical activity at work did not. Increased physical activity during leisure time reduced the serum cholesterol level only in those men who concomitantly reduced their body weight. The study corroborates results from other countries demonstrating increasing inequalities between social strata as to the distribution of cardiovascular risk factors.