Associations of specific types of sports and exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular-disease mortality: a cohort study of 80 306 British adults
Open accessAbstract
Background/Aim: Evidence for the long-term health effects of specific sport disciplines is scarce. Therefore, we examined the associations of six different types of sport/exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk in a large pooled Scottish and English population-based cohort. Methods: Cox proportional hazards regression was used to investigate the associations between each exposure and all-cause and CVD mortality with adjustment for potential confounders in 80 306 individuals (54% women; mean±SD age: 52±14 years). Results: Significant reductions in all-cause mortality were observed for participation in cycling (HR=0.85, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.95), swimming (HR=0.72, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.80), racquet sports (HR=0.53, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.69) and aerobics (HR=0.73, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.85). No significant associations were found for participation in football and running. A significant reduction in CVD mortality was observed for participation in swimming (HR=0.59, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.75), racquet sports (HR=0.44, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.83) and aerobics (HR=0.64, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.92), but there were no significant associations for cycling, running and football. Variable dose–response patterns between the exposure and the outcomes were found across the sport disciplines. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that participation in specific sports may have significant benefits for public health. Future research should aim to further strengthen the sport-specific epidemiological evidence base and understanding of how to promote greater sports participation.
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Many common activities of daily living are likely to elicit relative vigorous-intensity effort in physically inactive adults with poor fitness who do not habitually exercise.
“Many common activities of daily living are likely to elicit relative vigorous-intensity effort in physically inactive adults with poor fitness who do not habitually exercise21, which is the majority demographic in many countries8,9,22,23.”
From Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality (2022) · cites this paper as [8]
Vigorous structured exercise-based sessions are not feasible or appealing to the majority of middle-aged adults, as indicated by very low participation rates.
“Although vigorous-intensity physical activity is time-efficient, vigorous structured exercise-based sessions (for example, gym-based, sports, high-intensity interval training) are not feasible or appealing to the majority of middle-aged adults, as indicated by the very low participation rates8,9,17.”
From Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality (2022) · cites this paper as [8]
Most adults aged 40 and over do not do vigorous exercise or sports.
“Despite the large health potential of vigorous-intensity physical activity, most adults aged 40 and over do not do vigorous exercise or sports8,9,17.”
From Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality (2022) · cites this paper as [8]
Only one or two in five UK middle-aged adults engage in structured vigorous exercise at least once a month, suggesting numerous participation barriers.
“Only one or two in five UK middle-aged adults engage in structured vigorous exercise at least once a month8,9,17, suggesting numerous participation barriers.”
From Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality (2022) · cites this paper as [8]
Vigorous exercise programmes (eg, high intensity interval training) have low participation rates among middle-aged and older adults and might not be appealing to physically inactive adults who are at the highest risk of cardiovascular events.
“Although vigorous physical activity is a time-efficient way to achieve health targets, vigorous exercise programmes (eg, high intensity interval training) have low participation rates among middle-aged and older adults [11][12][13] and might not be appealing to physically inactive adults who are at the highest risk of cardiovascular events.”
Fewer than one in five middle-aged adults engage in regular exercise.
“Since fewer than one in five middle-aged adults engage in regular exercise, 12,13 the so-called micropatterns of physical activity 5,27 (short bouts of daily living activities) we investigated might be complementary to traditional exercise strategies.”
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References 26 · Cited by 212
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- of 7 Oja P, et al. Br J Sports Med 2017;51:812-817. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-096822 Original article on September 2, 2024 by guest. Protected by copyright. http://bjsm.bmj.com/ Br J Sports Med: first published as 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096822 on 28 November 2016. Downloaded from
- Authors
- Oja, P., Kelly, P., Pedisic, Z., Titze, S., Bauman, A., Foster, C., Hamer, M., Hillsdon, M., & Stamatakis, E.
- Affiliations
- Urho Kaleva Kekkonen Institute (FI)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- University of Graz (AT)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Loughborough University (GB)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Oja, Pekka
- ORCID
- Venue
- British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2016-11-28
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 812-817
- ISSN
- 0306-3674 (ISSN-L)
- 1473-0480
- OpenAlex
- W2557833928
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 15.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- British Journal of Sports Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Victoria University Research Repository (Victoria University) (submittedVersion)
- Loughborough University Institutional Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Loughborough University Research Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- The HKU Scholars Hub (University of Hong Kong) (submittedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Effects of Exercise
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- sports participation, physical activity, all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, cycling, swimming, racquet sports, aerobics, football, running, dose-response relationship, health benefits of sport
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Cardiovascular Diseases, England, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mortality, Risk Factors, Scotland, Sports, Cohort Studies, Exercise, Proportional Hazards Models
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