Five-year changes in physical activity level are associated with relevant changes in cardiovascular disease risk factors
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The study aimed to evaluate whether five-year changes in self-reported physical activity were associated with changes in cardiovascular risk factors, such as waist circumference, weight, serum lipids and blood pressure. A total of 4039 Danish men and women participating in the Inter99 study answered questions on lifestyle and provided blood samples and anthropometric measurements at baseline and after 5 years. Multiple regression analyses revealed that changes in physical activity level were inversely associated with changes in weight, waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and in a composite risk score (Copenhagen risk score), and positively associated with HDL-cholesterol in men. According to these results, changes in physical activity level were associated with relevant changes in cardiovascular risk factors in a population-based cohort of adult men and women. There are thus potential benefits for inactive people to engage into becoming more active, and for active people to maintain current activity level, whereas decreasing any physical activity level appears detrimental on cardiovascular risk factors.
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