Relationship of distance run per week to coronary heart disease risk factors in 8283 male runners. The National Runners' Health Study.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Official guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine state that every adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week.

OBJECTIVE:

To examine the dose-response relationship between coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors and vigorous exercise above the recommended minimum levels to assess whether further benefits accrue.

METHODS:

Physician-supplied medical data were compared with reported distance run in a national cross-sectional survey of 8283 male recreational runners.

RESULTS:

Compared with runners who ran less than 16 km (10 miles) per week, long-distance runners (> or = 80 km/wk) showed an 85% reduced prevalence of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels that were clinically low (< 0.9 mmol/L [< 35 mg/dL]), a 2.5-fold increased prevalence of clinically defined high levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (ie, > or = 1.55 mmol/L [> or = 60 mg/dL], the level thought to be protective against CHD), a nearly 50% reduction in hypertension, and more than a 50% reduction in the use of medications to lower blood pressure and plasma cholesterol levels. Estimated age-adjusted 10-year CHD risk was 30% lower in runners who averaged more than 64 km/wk than in those who averaged less than 16 km/wk (42 vs 61 events per 1000 men). Each 16-km incremental increase in weekly distance run up to 64 to 79 km/wk was associated with significant increases in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and significant decreases in adiposity, triglyceride levels, the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, and estimated CHD risk.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our data (1) suggest that substantial health benefits occur at exercise levels that exceed current minimum guidelines and (2) do not exhibit a point of diminishing return to the health benefits of running at any distance less than 80 km/wk.

• Authors: P T Williams
• Journal: Archives of internal medicine (Arch Intern Med) Vol. 157 Issue 2 Pg. 191-8 (Jan 27 1997) ISSN: 0003-9926 [Print] United States
• PMID: 9009976 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.)

Chemical References

• Blood Glucose
• Lipoproteins
• Uric Acid

Topics

• Adult
• Blood Glucose (metabolism)
• Blood Pressure
• Body Mass Index
• Coronary Disease (blood, ethnology, etiology, physiopathology)
• Ethnicity (statistics & numerical data)
• Exercise
• Humans
• Lipoproteins (blood)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Regression Analysis
• Risk Factors
• Running
• Uric Acid (blood)