Article

Physical inactivity increases with age and is shown to be inverse and
independently related to mortality among patients with coronary heart disease.
However, the knowledge of this relationship among elderly heart patients is
limited because of their exclusion from many studies. The aim of this study was
to investigate how self-reported physical activity affects all-cause mortality
among elderly patients admitted to hospital with coronary heart disease or
congestive heart failure. An observational study was carried out, including
patients >/=65 years of age who were admitted to a Coronary Unit with coronary
heart disease or congestive heart failure. Patients were asked to fill in a
questionnaire on physical activity and divided into a sedentary and non-sedentary
group, and followed for vital status for 2½ years after admission. In
total, 150 patients participated. Within this study, all-cause mortality was
27.3%. Sedentary patients had a 3.9-fold (95% CI, 1.9 to 7.8) increase in
mortality compared to non-sedentary patients. Adjusting for potential confounders
such as severity of heart disease, co-morbidity, medication and social factors in
a Cox proportional hazard regression model did not attenuate the association.
Only 25% of sedentary patients with heart failure were alive after 2½
years compared to 75% of those that were physically active (p < 0.001). This
study emphasises the importance of physical activity among elderly heart patients
and demonstrates that a group of sedentary patients, who are at high risk, can
easily be identified and require special attention.

Langue : ANGLAIS