Older adults in Finland who engaged in leisure-time physical activity at baseline had lower risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality and incident cardiovascular disease events, according to a population-based cohort study.

The benefits of physical activity were independent of education and marital status and known major cardiovascular disease risk factors such as smoking, body mass index, systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol.

Lead researcher Noël C. Barengo, PhD, of Florida International University in Miami, and colleagues published their results online in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society on Dec. 26.

The researchers analyzed 2,456 adults who were between 65 and 74 years old when they enrolled in 1997, 2002 and 2007 in the National FINRISK Study, which monitors cardiovascular risk factors and other outcomes.

Of the participants, 1,331 were men and 1,125 were women. All participants completed a self-administered questionnaire that included questions on smoking habits, education, leisure-time physical activity and other health-related and socioeconomic factors. At baseline, nurses checked the questionnaires and measured participants’ height, weight and blood pressure. The researchers followed up with the patients until the end of 2013.

The researchers classified leisure-time physical activity as high if adults participated in recreational sports or intense training or sports competitions for at least three hours per week. They considered leisure-time physical activity as moderate if adults participated in walking, cycling or other light exercise for at least four hours per week. They considered leisure-time physical activity as low if adults read, watched television or worked in the house without much physical activity.

Participants in the moderate and high leisure-time physical activity groups had a lower risk of total mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality and incident cardiovascular disease events than the low leisure-time physical activity group. The results were based on multifactorial adjustments for age, area, study year, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol, education and marital status.

The researchers acknowledged the study had a few limitations, including that they only assessed physical activity and other risk factors at the beginning of the follow-up period. They also assessed leisure-time physical activity based on a semi-quantitative questionnaire. In addition, they noted the number of cardiovascular deaths and acute coronary heart disease events were small, which limited the statistical power.

“These results with regard to the benefit of physical activity on all-cause mortality in older adults are in line with those of previous studies,” the researchers wrote. “Moderate and high levels of [leisure-time physical activity] have been shown to reduce all-cause mortality in older men and women. In addition, walking, a specific form of [leisure-time physical activity], has been found to be associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality. Apparently, even occasional physical activity reduces the risk of all-cause mortality in older adults.”