Dataset Information

Leisure Time Physical Activity in Relation to Mortality Among African American Women.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

African American women have a life expectancy 2.7 years shorter than that of white women and are less likely than white women to meet national physical activity guidelines. Physical activity has been found to reduce mortality, but evidence concerning African American women is limited.

Methods

In the Black Women's Health Study, a prospective cohort study of African American women begun in 1995, a total of 52,993 participants who were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at enrollment were followed through 2017. Cox proportional hazards models evaluated the associations of repeated measures of physical activity with mortality, adjusting for demographic, medical, and lifestyle factors. Statistical analyses were last performed in September 2019.

Results

During the 22 years of follow-up, 4,719 deaths occurred. Higher levels of physical activity were associated with reduced all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality. Hazard ratios for walking ≥5 hours per week relative to no walking were 0.69 (95% CI=0.62, 0.77), 0.71 (95% CI=0.57, 0.87), and 0.80 (95% CI=0.67, 0.96) for all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality, respectively. The comparable hazard ratios for vigorous exercise for ≥5 hours per week vs none were 0.58 (95% CI=0.50, 0.67), 0.66 (95% CI=0.50, 0.87), and 0.52 (95% CI=0.39, 0.72).

Conclusions

Both walking for exercise and vigorous exercise were associated with reductions in mortality among African American women, including deaths from cardiovascular disease and deaths from cancer, both of which are disproportionately high in the African American population. These findings underline the importance of institutional and individual changes that will lead to increased physical activity.

SUBMITTER: Sheehy S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7577941 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity is a major public health problem associated with increased mortality risk. It is, however, poorly understood whether vigorous physical activity is more beneficial for reducing mortality risk than activities of lower intensity. The aim of this study was to examine associations of the intensity and volume of leisure-time physical activity with all-cause mortality among middle-aged women and men while considering sociodemographic and health related factors as covariates. METHODS: Questionnaire survey data collected in 2000-02 among 40-60-year-old employees of the City of Helsinki (N = 8960) were linked with register data on mortality (74% gave permission to the linkage) providing a mean follow-up time of 12-years. The analysis included 6429 respondents (79% women). The participants were classified into three groups according to intensity of physical activity: low moderate, high moderate and vigorous. The volume of physical activity was classified into three groups according to tertiles. Cox regression analysis was used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause mortality. RESULTS: During the follow up 205 participants died. Leisure-time physical activity was associated with reduced risk of mortality. After adjusting for covariates the vigorous group (HR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.34-0.86) showed a reduced risk of mortality compared with the low moderate group whereas for the high moderate group the reductions in mortality risk (HR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.48-1.08) were less clear. Adjusting for the volume of physical activity did not affect the point estimates. Higher volume of leisure-time physical activity was also associated with reduced mortality risk; however, adjusting for the covariates and the intensity of physical activity explained the differences. CONCLUSIONS: For healthy middle-aged women and men who engage in some physical activity vigorous exercise may provide further health benefits preventing premature deaths.