Non exercise physical activity and survival: English longitudinal study of ageing.
BACKGROUND The activity patterns of older adults include more light/mild intensity or "non exercise" activity and less moderate to vigorous intensity activity. The health benefits of this type of activity pattern remain unclear. PURPOSE To examine dose response associations between physical activity and survival using time varying analysis to understand the importance of "non exercise" activity for survival in older adults. METHODS Participants (N=10,426) were drawn from The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a representative sample of men and women aged =50 years living in England. Participant data were linked with death records from the National Health Service registries from 2002 to 2011. Analyses were conducted in 2013. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the risk of death according to time varying estimates of physical activity. RESULTS Over an average follow up of 7.8 years (median follow up, 8.5 years) there were 1,896 deaths. In models adjusted for comorbidities, psychosocial factors, smoking, and obesity, there was a dose response association between time varying physical activity and mortality, with the greatest survival benefit in vigorously active participants. However, participating in mild "non exercise" intensity physical activity was also associated with a lower risk of all cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR]=0.76, 95% CI=0.69, 0.83) cardiovascular mortality (HR=0.74, 95% CI=0.64, 0.85) and death by other causes (HR=0.67, 95% CI=0.58, 0.78) Time varying models produced stronger, more robust estimates than models using a single measurement of physical activity at baseline. CONCLUSIONS Older adults gain health benefits from participating in regular "non exercise" physical activity, although the greatest benefits are observed for more vigorous activity.
American journal of preventive medicine