Arrhythmias and conduction disturbancesRelation of Vigorous Exercise to Risk of Atrial Fibrillation
Section snippets
Methods
The methods of the Physicians' Health Study have been described in detail elsewhere.4 The study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki, was approved by the institutional review board of Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts), and participants gave informed consent. Briefly, 22,071 men who were physicians, 40 to 84 years old in 1982, with no history of myocardial infarction, stroke, transient ischemic attacks, or cancer were randomized to aspirin and/or β-carotene using a
Results
At 3 years, 63% of participants reported engaging in a regular program of vigorous exercise and 13% reported exercising 5 to 7 times/week (Table 1). In regular exercisers, mean total amount of time spent exercising per week was 108 ± 78 minutes (Figure 1). Frequency of vigorous exercise was inversely associated with age, BMI, smoking, diabetes, and hypertension and directly associated with alcohol, fish, multivitamin, and vitamin C and E intakes.
Frequency of vigorous exercise at 3 years was not
Discussion
In this large prospective cohort study of apparently healthy men, a complex association between exercise and development of AF was observed. After adjustment for multiple potentially confounding lifestyle factors and health conditions, higher frequency of participation in a regular program of vigorous exercise at 3 years was associated with a modestly increased risk of developing AF. This increased risk was primarily in those who exercised 5 to 7 times/week. These men had a 20% increased risk
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This study was supported by Grants CA34944, CA40360, HL26490, HL34595, and CA097193 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.