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Good cardiac and pulmonary (cardiorespiratory) fitness in the middle age is associated with a lower risk of long-term chronic lung disease (COPD), suggests a Danish research published online in the newspaper Thorax.
Physical activity that improves physical fitness should be encouraged "to delay the development, progression and death of COPD," the researchers conclude.
COPD, an abbreviation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a generic term for respiratory conditions that narrow the airways, such as bronchitis and emphysema. Smoking is the leading risk factor for COPD, which the World Health Organization ranks as the fourth most common cause of death in the world.
Studies have suggested that a high level of physical activity and / or physical activity during leisure time was associated with a reduced risk of COPD and that physical inactivity could accelerate its progression.
To further explore this issue, the researchers followed the respiratory health of 4,730 healthy middle-aged men from the Copenhagen Male Study, recruited from 14 large workplaces in Copenhagen between 1970 and 1971. Their average of 39, age was 49 years old.
People who have already been diagnosed with COPD, asthma or with symptoms of chronic bronchitis have been excluded. Participants were followed for a period of up to 46 years until January 2016.
All participants provided information on smoking, alcohol consumption, level of physical activity, level of education, occupation and medical history.
Height, weight and resting blood pressure were measured and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was calculated as low, normal or high, using a VO2 max test – a measure of the body's ability to use oxygen during exercise. National registries have been used to identify cases of COPD and COPD deaths.
Compared to a low CRF, the estimated risk of diagnosing COPD was 21% lower in men with normal CRF and 31% lower in men with high CRF.
Similarly, compared with a low CRF, the estimated risk of death from COPD was 35% lower in men with normal CRF and 62% lower in men with high CRF.
High CRF in middle-aged patients was also associated with a 1.5 to 2-year delay in the diagnosis and death of COPD.
The results are largely unchanged after excluding people diagnosed with COPD or who died within the first 10 years of surveillance, suggesting that the results are resistant to scrutiny, according to the researchers.
This is an observational study, and as such, can not establish the cause. And it is possible that participants with high levels of CRF were more resistant to underlying COPD, delaying the diagnosis, the researchers said.
However, their results are consistent with previous studies and provide additional information on the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and the long-term risk of COPD over an unusually long period of surveillance.
And while the processes linking the CRF to the development and progression of COPD are unclear, researchers speculate that inflammation, linked to physical inactivity, may play a key role.
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External peer-reviewed? Yes
Type of evidence: observational
Topics: People
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