▎ WuXi AppTec content team editor
We know that exercise not only helps maintain weight, but also has a wide range of health benefits.
At the recent American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2022 Annual Meeting of Science, a large study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) at Harvard Medical School once again supported the benefits of exercise in reducing the risk of vascular disease, and because exercise has the potential to regulate stress-related neurobiological activities, people with anxiety and depression receive twice as much cardiovascular protection from exercise as other populations!
Screenshot source: ACC Scientific Session
Around this topic, the research team has previously conducted a series of studies, with participants from the same biobank. The first study, through the analysis of exercise data and imaging data from nearly 700 people, revealed that the mechanisms of cardiovascular benefits from exercise involve the effects on the brain. Specifically, exercise reduces stress-related neural activity primarily by modulating medial prefrontal cortex activity. A second study further found that the above pressure regulation mechanisms could explain the cardiovascular benefits of about 7.7% of exercise.
Following these findings, the team further speculated whether people with stress-related conditions such as anxiety and depression could reap more cardiovascular benefits from exercise. This new analysis does prove it.
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The study included 50,359 adults with a broad coverage of participants:
The median age is 59 years (quartile 42-70 years);
Physical health is complex and varied, with no limit to previous myocardial infarction or stroke, and the proportion of people with various cardiovascular risk factors (including type 2 diabetes, hypertension or hyperlipidemia, current smoking or former smoking, etc.) ranges from 15% to 48%.
Notably, it was very common for participants to suffer from anxiety or depression, with 34% (16,995 people) diagnosed with anxiety and 20% (14,015 people) diagnosed with depression.
Physical activity data were reported through questionnaires and were divided into two groups based on whether the recommended amount of activity recommended by the guidelines was met. Guidelines recommend targeting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week or an overall equivalent amount of activity (500 metabolic equivalent-minutes per week).
Metabolic Equivalent (MET) is the ratio of energy consumed at activity to energy consumed at rest. 1 MET is equivalent to basal metabolic rate.
500 metabolic equivalents - minutes, is a cumulative total. It can be a 5 MET activity for 100 minutes, or it can be an 8 MET activity for 62.5 minutes.
In general, 3 to 6 MET is moderate-intensity activity; ≥6 MET is high-intensity activity. Regular walking is about 3 MET and brisk walking is about 6 MET.
The median follow-up period was about 1.8 years, during which a total of 4033 people experienced major adverse coronary adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including unstable angina, myocardial infarction, or coronary artery revascularization (stent implantation or bypass surgery).
After adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors and the effects of age and sex, the risk of coronary ARTER MACE was significantly reduced by about 16% compared with people who did not meet the physical activity standard and exceeded the activity target.
In patients with anxiety or depression, the cardiovascular protective effect of activity attainment was more pronounced, with a 22% reduction in coronary artery MACE risk, and in people without anxiety or depression, the above risk was reduced by 10% after activity attainment.
▲The effect of achieving the recommended amount of exercise (500 metabolic equivalents per week - minutes) on the risk of coronary ARTER MACE, according to the total population, whether there is anxiety disorder, whether there is depression or not, grouped analysis. (Image source: References[1])
Study lead author Dr. Hadil Zureigat of Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School added, "Exercise is not only effective for people with anxiety and depression, but the cardiovascular benefits for this subset of people are relatively greater. Moreover, "any amount of exercise is beneficial." ”
The findings are "very important," said Professor Andrew Kates of the Washington University School of Medicine, "People with cardiovascular disease often need to take medications for secondary prevention, and these data can encourage patients to make lifestyle changes as a way to prevent cardiovascular events." ”
In addition, he emphasized the integrated management of anxiety and depression and heart disease, "About 15% to 30% of heart disease patients have anxiety and depression, and we should screen for this and make sure that patients are aware of the association between anxiety and depression and heart disease." ”