Activity linked to lower irregular heartbeat risk in some adults
Among participants with metabolically unhealthy obesity, recommended moderate-to-vigorous activity was linked to lower irregular heartbeat risk: hazard ratio 0.70 versus below-guideline activity, a relative risk comparison.
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
A prospective observational study followed 17,476 UK Biobank participants with obesity and no atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat. Participants wore wrist activity monitors for seven days. Researchers grouped them by metabolic health, which concerns how the body processes and uses energy. During a median follow-up of 8.09 years, 1,092 developed atrial fibrillation.
Among participants classified as metabolically unhealthy, guideline-recommended moderate-to-vigorous activity was associated with lower risk. More than 11.2 hours of daily sedentary time was associated with higher risk. Neither association was statistically significant in the metabolically healthy group. A statistical model also linked replacing one hour of daily sedentary time with moderate-to-vigorous activity to lower risk in the metabolically unhealthy group. It found no statistically significant benefit in the healthy group.
Why it matters
Atrial fibrillation is an age-related heart rhythm disorder. The study bears on whether advice about activity and sedentary time should differ according to metabolic health.
Caveats
The observational design cannot establish cause and effect; replacing sedentary time was modeled, not tested. The report was a congress abstract, and all participants had obesity and no atrial fibrillation at enrollment.
