People can help reduce their odds of developing atrial fibrillation or stroke through one piece of standard medical advice: stay fit. According to a new study in 15,000 people, physical fitness was found to have a lower likelihood of these conditions. The findings will be presented this weekend at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2023, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. “This was a large study with an objective measurement of fitness and more than 11 years of follow-up. The findings indicate that keeping fit may help prevent atrial fibrillation and stroke,” study author Dr. Shih-Hsien Sung, of the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taipei, Taiwan, said in a meeting news release. Research participants did not have atrial fibrillation, or a-fib, an irregular and often rapid heart rhythm, at the study start and were referred for a treadmill test between 2003 and 2012. Researchers assessed their fitness using the Bruce protocol, where each person was asked to walk faster and at a steeper grade in successive three-minute stages. Then the team calculated participants’ fitness according to the rate of energy expenditure the participants achieved, which was expressed in metabolic equivalents (METs). The study followed the participants, who started at an average age of 55, and of whom 59% were male, looking for new-onset a-fib, stroke, myocardial infarction and death. After adjusting for other potentially…  read on >  read on >

Walkable neighborhoods — with sidewalks, parks and paths — encourage pregnant women to get more exercise, which leads to good outcomes for both mom and baby. New research looks at the influence of these walkable communities on this activity, which is considered safe for pregnant women. “Gestational diabetes is a growing issue and low birth weight and preterm babies are always a concern, they can just have so many more complications,” said Karen Conway, a professor at University of New Hampshire Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics. “At the end of the day, the data shows walkable communities mean mom and the baby are both in better health.” To study this, Conway and co-author Andrea Menclova, associate professor of economics at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, combined walkability measures created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with federal government data on physical activity and pregnancy outcomes. A 10-point increase in the walkability index — the equivalent of transitioning from the “least walkable” to the “most walkable” category — was associated with a more than 70-minute increase in weekly exercise among pregnant women. That same change increased the likelihood of a full-term birth by almost a full percentage point. It also led to a 27-gram (nearly 1 ounce) increase in birth weight; a 27% reduction in likelihood of gestational diabetes, and…  read on >  read on >

Women who have larger breasts tend to exercise less or less intensely, according to a new study that suggests having breast reduction surgery could be a game changer. Australian researchers looking at exercise participation for women in this category called for more accessible, publicly funded breast reduction and other interventions. The study used survey results from nearly 2,000 women who were in the involved in the Parkrun program, which promotes 5K running and walking events. Participants were in Australia, England and South Africa. Women with bigger breasts reported that reducing their breast size would improve their exercise performance and frequency. And among the survey participants, the 56 women who had already undergone breast reduction surgery said they lead healthier and more active lifestyles. “Women who had undergone breast reduction reported increased overall frequency, enjoyment and willingness to exercise in a group,” said lead author Dr. Claire Baxter, a clinical registrar in reconstructive surgery at the Flinders Medical Centre in Bedford Park, Australia. “Our study found that breast size affects exercise habits and that breast reduction surgery changes their willingness to exercise,” she said in a Flinders news release. The study promotes the importance of regular exercise for weight and ischemic heart disease and also points out barriers for Australian Government subsidies for reduction mammoplasty. “As well as the need for patients to have macromastia [enlarged…  read on >  read on >

Having good fitness while young can really pay off when it comes to cancer risk later in life. New research found that cardiorespiratory fitness — the ability to do aerobic exercise — was associated with up to 42% lower risk of nine cancers, including head and neck, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, colon, kidney and lung. Researchers used Swedish registry data up to the end of 2019, covering background information, medical diagnoses and deaths for male conscripts who started their military service between 1968 and 2005. The conscripts were age 16 to 25 when they started their service and had a battery of assessments at that time, including height, weight (body mass index), blood pressure, muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness. Those who had a low level of cardiorespiratory fitness were slightly more likely to be obese and more likely to have a history of alcohol and substance misuse. They were also more likely to have parents with lower educational attainment than their counterparts who had a higher fitness level. More than 365,000 conscripts had a low level of cardiorespiratory fitness. More than 519,000 had a moderate level and nearly 341,000 had a high level. The final analysis included more than 1 million men, about 7% of whom later developed cancer in at least one site during an average monitoring period of 33 years. Those with higher…  read on >  read on >

If you’re one of the millions of folks bent on racking up at least 10,000 steps a day, read on. A new study finds that heart health starts to improve with as few as 2,300 steps a day. The research also indicates your risk of dying from any disease starts to decrease with only about 4,000 daily steps. However, the more daily steps you get, the bigger the benefit becomes, the study also found. “Ten thousand steps per day is, in fact, still a correct way of thinking if we take into account the most pronounced [death] reduction,” said study author Dr. Maciej Banach. He is a professor of cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz in Poland, and an adjunct professor at the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Ten thousand steps equates to about 4-5 miles of walking, experts say. For the study, researchers analyzed 17 prior studies involving about 227,000 people. They were followed for roughly seven years. Adults over age 60 saw risk of death reduced by 42% if they clocked between 6,000 and 10,000 steps a day. Among younger adults, there was a 49% reduction when they walked between 7,000 and 13,000 steps a day, the study showed. “Every increase of steps by 1,000 steps/day is associated with a 15% reduction in…  read on >  read on >

Patients being treated for ovarian cancer often experience peripheral neuropathy, a side effect from their chemotherapy that can cause both pain and numbness for months, or even years. Now, a new study suggests that six months of aerobic exercise may ease this unpleasant side effect. “The results from this trial hold the potential to transform supportive care for ovarian cancer survivors by offering a new approach to managing CIPN [chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy],” said senior study author Leah Ferrucci, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and a member of Yale Cancer Center. “These findings provide compelling evidence that a structured, home-based aerobic exercise program can significantly improve CIPN in ovarian cancer survivors who have completed chemotherapy,” Ferrucci said in a Yale news release. The structured aerobic exercise intervention in the study had already been found to improve physical health-related quality of life. For this new research on patients with ovarian cancer who received chemotherapy, the investigators evaluated the impact of the exercise program and compared it to a control group of patients not in the exercise program. Patients in the exercise intervention arm of the study had a reduction of 1.3 points in CIPN symptoms at the end of the six-month program. Those in the control group, who only received weekly health education phone calls, had a minor increase in…  read on >  read on >