Any level of physical activity significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals age 65 and older, according to an 18-year study of 24,502 middle-aged and elderly adults.

“Elderly people who were moderately inactive had a 14 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular events compared to those who were completely inactive,” lead study author Sangeeta Lachman, MD, MSc, a cardiologist at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, said in a press release. “This suggests that even modest levels of physical activity are beneficial to heart health. Elderly people should be encouraged to at least do low intensity physical activities such as walking, gardening, and housework.”

Lachman and colleagues assessed participants’ physical activity during work and leisure time using a questionnaire and categorized individuals as active, moderately active, moderately inactive or inactive. They studied the relationship of physical activity to CVD, defined as a combination of stroke and coronary heart disease (including unstable angina, stable angina and MI). All patients were aged 39 to 79 at baseline and came from registries of general practices in the county of Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Compared to inactive participants age 65 or older, CVD risk was reduced by 14 percent, 13 percent and 12 percent for moderately inactive, moderately active and active people, respectively. The younger age groups showed a similar relationship, but it wasn’t statistically significant, which the researchers attributed to a lower incidence of cardiovascular events in the younger cohort.

“As there appeared to be a threshold between completely inactive and moderately inactive people in the relationship between physical activity and CVD risk, the avoidance of a sedentary lifestyle in general should be recommended,” Lachman and colleagues wrote in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology. “A broader array of public health, healthcare systems and communities should be involved in helping elderly people to engage in any physical activity of any level and to reduce a sedentary lifestyle.”