Cardiovascular risk in adults with different levels of physical activity

Physical inactivity is a behavioral and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We aimed to assess the association of walking or moderate to vigorous physical activity of various durations with cardiovascular risk in age and sex groups of the adult general population.

This research was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from a Brazilian cohort study (2009 to 2014) on the general population in an urban area. Overall, 1208 patients (48.2% males) aged 20-59 years [mean (SD) age = 38.8 (12.0) years] were included.

We developed two well-fitted logistic models for investigating the main and interaction effects of physical activity; C-statistic = 74.1 and 80.4, respectively. Older age groups showed a higher association with the risk of cardiovascular disease, adjusted odds ratio OR (95%CI) = 5.28 (2.69, 10.76) for age ≥ 50 years. Walking < 150 min/w was not significant for all age groups (all P ≥ 0.139) compared with the base category (20-29 years). Also, moderate to vigorous physical activity < 150 min/w was not associated with lower cardiovascular risk. However, for moderate to vigorous physical activity ≥ 150 min/w, our results were indicative of a significant protective role for people in 30-39 and ≥ 50 age ranges; OR = 0.20 (0.09, 0.46) and 0.22 (0.10, 0.48), respectively (both P < 0.001).

Our study did not suggest a protective role for walking. However, moderate to vigorous physical activity ≥ 150 min/w was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in older patients.