Aggressive use of recommended prevention activities could lower U.S. rates of coronary artery disease and stroke
TUESDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- Patients randomized to aerobic interval training versus an equivalent amount of continuous moderate exercise experienced greater improvements in aerobic capacity and reversed more risk factors of the metabolic syndrome, according to an article published online July 7 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. In a related study, full scale implementation of 11 prevention measures prevented up to two-thirds of myocardial infarctions and one-third of strokes.
In the first study, Arnt Erik Tjonna, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, and colleagues randomized 32 metabolic syndrome patients to equal amounts of continuous moderate exercise or aerobic interval training three times a week for 16 weeks. The researchers found that interval training increased aerobic capacity more than continuous moderate exercise and achieved greater reduction of metabolic syndrome risk factors. Reductions in blood pressure and weight were similar across the two groups, the report indicates.
In the second study, Richard Kahn, Ph.D., of the American Diabetes Association in Alexandria, Va., and colleagues used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV to create a simulated U.S. population and model the impact of 11 different preventive measures over 30 years. They found that 78 percent of all Americans were eligible for at least one preventive measure and adoption of all eligible preventive measures could potentially lead to a reduction of myocardial infarctions and strokes by 63 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
"Aggressive application of nationally recommended prevention activities could prevent a high proportion of the coronary artery disease events and strokes that are otherwise expected to occur in adults in the United States today," according to Kahn and colleagues.
Abstract - Tjonna
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Abstract - Kahn
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