Patients are more likely to die right away from a myocardial infarction (MI) if they did not live an active lifestyle, according to new findings published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
The study’s authors evaluated data from more than 28,000 European patients who experienced a MI. Data came from 10 different cohorts, so researchers had to standardize physical activity (PA) measurements across the board. Patients were then placed into one of four categories: sedentary PA, low PA, moderate PA and high PA.
Overall, 17.7% of patients died within 28 days of their MI—and 62.3% of those patients died immediately. Patients from the low PA, moderate PA and high PA groups were all less likely to die immediately from a MI than sedentary patients. Patients from those three groups were also less likely to die within 28 days of their MI.
In fact, the team wrote, patients who were engaged in high levels of PA had a 45% lower risk of instant death and 28% lower risk of dying within 28 days than patients from the sedentary group.
“Almost 18% of patients with a heart attack died within 28 days, substantiating the severity of this condition,” lead author Kim Wadt Hansen, MD, a cardiologist at Bispebjerg Frederiksberg University Hospital in Denmark, said in a prepared statement. “We found an immediate survival benefit of prior physical activity in the setting of a heart attack, a benefit which seemed preserved at 28 days. Based on our analyses, even a low amount of leisure-time physical activity may in fact be beneficial against fatal heart attacks, but statistical uncertainty precludes us from drawing any firm conclusions on that point.”
The full analysis is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.