Racquets, swimming and aerobics best for health?

Wednesday November 30th, 2016

Racquet sports, swimming and aerobics may be the healthiest forms of fitness, researchers say today.

Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis of the University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues looked at the long-term health effects of specific sport disciplines. They analysed figures from 80,306 male and female participants in Scottish and English research projects.

This showed a 15% reduction in all-cause mortality for those who cycled but a 28% drop for those who swam.

There was a 47% drop for those who took part in racquet sports such as tennis and badminton and a 27% drop among those who did aerobics or other keep fit activities.

But no mortality benefit was found for football or running.

Significant drops in cardiac mortality were seen for all of these sports except cycling, running and football. The raw figures suggested that runners might enjoy a 43% reduced mortality risk - but this disappeared when other factors were taken into account.

The low impact of football might reflect the small numbers playing the game in later life. Participants had an average age of 52.

The researchers say there is some evidence of a u-shape effect - where moderate intensity is more beneficial for health than high intensity.

"Future research should aim to further strengthen the sport-specific epidemiological evidence base," the researchers write in the British Journal of Sports Medicine today (30 November).

Professor Stamatakis added: "These observations should support the sport community together with other sectors to design and implement effective health enhancing exercise programs and physical activity in general."

* A further study on cardiac mortality has found a more than eight-fold higher risk of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction for smokers under the age of 50. Hospital and demographic figures were combined to look at changes the risk of this type of heart attack due to population smoking trends.

Dr Ever Grech and colleagues at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, UK, examined the smoking details of 1,795 ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients and found that smokers "were overrepresented" in this group.

Smokers under the age of 50 years had an 8.47 times increased rate compared to non-smokers of the same age, they report in today's issue of Heart.

"Our goal should be on providing young smokers with the tools to achieve abstinence," Dr Grech concludes.

Oja, P. et al. Associations of specific types of sport and exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality: a cohort study of 80,306 British adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine 30 November 2016; doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096822 [abstract]

Lloyd, A. et al. Pronounced increase in the risk of acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in younger smokers. Heart 30 November 2016; doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2016-309595 [abstract]

Tags: Australia | Fitness | Heart Health | Respiratory | UK News

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