Association of “Weekend Warrior” and Other Leisure Time Physical Activity Patterns With Risks for All-Cause, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer Mortality

Literature - O’Donovan G, Lee I-M, Hamer M et al. - JAMA Intern Med. Published online January 9, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.8014

Background

Physical activity is associated with reduced risks of all-cause mortality, CVD- and cancer mortality and the WHO recommends a minimum of 150 min/week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 min/week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or equivalent combinations, for individuals aged 18-64 years [1,2]. However, it is unclear how frequency, intensity, and duration of activity interact to achieve health benefits [3]. For example, in a limited study sample, individuals who do all their exercise during the weekend, the so-called ‘weekend warriors’ had lower all-cause mortality [4].

In this analysis of 11 population-based cohorts (respondents ≥40 yrs to the Health Survey for England and Scottish Health Survey), the associations between physical activity patterns and all-cause mortality, CVD- and cancer mortality was evaluated. The secondary objective was to investigate how frequency, intensity, and duration of physical activity might influence mortality. Individuals were divided into inactive (no moderate- or vigorous-intensity activities), insufficiently active (<150 min/wk in moderate and <75 min/wk in vigorous-intensity activities), weekend warrior (≥150 min/wk in moderate or ≥75 min/wk in vigorous-intensity from 1 or 2 sessions) and regularly active (≥150 min/wk moderate and ≥75 min/wk vigorous intensity from ≥3 sessions).

Main results

• Out of 63 591 survey respondents 62.8% were physically inactive, 22.4% were insufficiently active, 3.7% were weekend warriors, and 11.1% were regularly active.
• A total of 8802 deaths were due to all causes, 2780 due to CVD, and 2526 due to cancer during 561 159 person-years of follow-up (mean [SD], 8.8 [4.4] years).
• Compared with the inactive participants, the adjusted HR for all-cause mortality was 0.69 (95% CI: 0.65-0.74) in the insufficiently active participants, 0.70 (95% CI: 0.60-0.82) in the weekend warrior participants, and 0.65 (95% CI: 0.58-0.73) in the regularly active participants.
• Compared with the inactive participants, the adjusted HR for CVD mortality was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.55-0.72) in the insufficiently active participants, 0.60 (95% CI: 0.45-0.82) in the weekend warrior participants, and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.48-0.73) in the regularly active participants.
• Compared with the inactive participants, the adjusted HR for cancer mortality was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.77-0.96) in the insufficiently active participants, 0.82 (95% CI: 0.63-1.06) in the weekend warrior participants, and 0.79 (95% CI: 0.66-0.94) in the regularly active participants.
• Compared with the inactive participants, the HR for all-cause mortality was 0.66 (95% CI: 0.62-0.72) in the insufficiently active participants who reported 1 or 2 physical activity sessions per week and 0.82 (95% CI: 0.72-0.95) in the insufficiently active participants who reported 3 or more physical activity sessions per week.
• The HRs for CVD and cancer mortality of the insufficiently active participants who reported 1 or 2 sessions per week were similar to those for the entire insufficiently active group. The HRs of the insufficiently active participants who reported 3 or more sessions per week were 0.79 for CVD mortality (95% CI: 0.60-1.01) and 0.99 for cancer mortality (95% CI: 0.79-1.24).

Conclusion

References

Find this article online at JAMA Intern Med