Physical activity is influential on long-term health. The correlation with health and longevity is well documented in many large human data sets, while animal studies of exercise and fitness demonstrates causation. One might also look at the epidemiology of hunter-gatherer populations that engage in considerably more physical activity than is the case for most humans, and observe the much reduced incidence of common age-related conditions in those individuals, relative to the sedate inhabitants of wealthier regions of the world. Here find yet another paper in which the authors report that a sizable human study population exhibits the expected relationship between physical activity and mortality. This is one of many.
We used data from the 2005-2018 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), including participants aged 60 years and older. Healthy Lifestyle Index (HLI) was constructed based on five modifiable factors: body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and dietary intake. Multimorbidity was defined as the presence of two or more chronic conditions. Cox proportional hazards regression was employed to assess the associations between healthy lifestyle, multimorbidity, and all-cause mortality, with stratified analyses by age, sex, and urban-rural residence.
A total of 21,418 participants were included, with 15,113 deaths recorded over a median follow-up of 3.44 years. The age- and sex-adjusted mortality rate was 149.19 per 1,000 person-years. Among the lifestyle factors, physical activity showed the strongest association with reduced mortality (hazard ratio, HR=0.68). Participants with a healthy lifestyle had significantly lower all-cause mortality risk compared to those with an unhealthy lifestyle (HR=0.65). Notably, the protective effect was more pronounced among those with multimorbidity (HR=0.58) than those without (HR=0.65).
Link: https://doi.org/10.1...877-025-06246-4
View the full article at FightAging
