13 Mar Women Who Walk Briskly At Least Twice Per Week Have Lower Risk of Heart Failure
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Somwail Rasla, MD
Primary Care Center
Brown University, Pawtucket, RI
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Heart failure (HF) is a major global epidemic. The risk of heart failure rises with age, It triples for women above age 60.
Studies have found an inverse relationship between the risk of heart failure hospitalization and midlife fitness.Walking is the most common form of physical activity reported in women
and older adults. T
his study aims at exploring the association of walking pace (speed), walking frequency and duration with the risk of incident acute hospitalized HF (HHF).
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: Women who walked at least twice a week had a 20 to 25 percent lower risk of heart failure than those who walked less frequently. Those who walked for 40 minutes or more at a time had a 21 to 25 percent lower risk than those taking shorter walks. Women walking at an average or fast pace showed a 26 and 38 percent lower risk of heart failure, respectively, compared to women who walked at a casual pace.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Walking 2-3 times per week, for more than 40 minutes per walk at a volume of 5 MET-hr/wk and at an average or faster pace appears to be protective against developing acute hospitalized heart failure in post-menopausal women.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: Future randomized trials are needed to investigate the same effect on men and younger women to help generalize the results of this current study.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: This study is based on The Women’s Health Initiative trial which recruited women nationwide in 40 clinical centers between 1993 and 1998.
Study participants were women 50 to 79 years of age. Of the 161,808 postmenopausal women in the original cohort, we excluded those at baseline with HF, coronary heart disease, cancers, unable to walk one block or with missing data on follow-up.
I have no disclosures.
Citations: ACC 2018 abstract and JACC publication
Association of Walking Pace, Walking Frequency and Duration and Joint Effects on the Risk of Heart Failure in Post-Menopausal Women
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Last Updated on March 13, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD