Ar. Folsom et al., PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY AND INCIDENCE OF CORONARY HEART-DISEASE IN MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN AND MEN, Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 29(7), 1997, pp. 901-909
Few studies of physical activity and coronary heart disease (CHD) have
included women or blacks. We examined this association in a biracial
cohort of 45- to 64-yr-old adults. We related the sports, leisure, and
work indices developed by J. A. H.Baecke et al. to CHD incident event
s (N = 97 in women, N = 223 in men) over 4-7 yr in the Atherosclerosis
Risk in Communities study. The age-, race-, and field center-adjusted
relative risk of CHD was 0.73 in women and 0.82 in men per each stand
ard deviation increment in the sports index (P < 0.05). For the leisur
e index, these relative risks were 0.78 for both sexes (P < 0.05). The
work index was not associated with CHD. These inverse associations he
ld for non-blacks, but there was no association between the sport or l
eisure indices and CHD among blacks. Vigorous sports participation was
strongly inversely associated with CHD, but an independent contributi
on of nonvigorous activity (e.g., walking) could not be demonstrated c
onclusively. Adjustment for other risk factors attenuated the relative
risks, as one might expect if these risk factors mediated any protect
ive effect of physical activity. Our findings reinforce evidence that
regular physical activity should protect women, as well as men, from C
HD. Explanations for no association among blacks, if real, are needed.