Exercise may be the best way to keep hearts healthy – and it works even for people with a genetic pre-disposition for heart disease, according to new findings in the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation.
Exercise may be the best way to keep hearts healthy – and it works even for people with a genetic pre-disposition for heart disease, according to new findings in the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation.
Data assessed from roughly a half-million people in the UK Biobank database showed that greater grip strength, more physical activity and better cardiorespiratory fitness are all associated with reduced risk for heart attacks and stroke, even among people with a genetic predisposition for heart disease.
For participants with an intermediate genetic risk for cardiovascular diseases, those with the strongest grips were 36 percent less likely to develop coronary heart disease and had a 46 percent reduction in their risk for atrial fibrillation compared to study participants with the same genetic risk who had the weakest grips.
Among individuals deemed at high genetic risk for cardiovascular diseases, high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness were associated with a 49 percent lower risk for coronary heart disease and a 60 percent lower risk for atrial fibrillation compared to study participants with low cardiorespiratory fitness.
Read more at American Heart Association
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