Background: The debate continues regarding the effectiveness of walking versus vigorous exercise in preventing coronary heart disease. Particularly, there is limited data focusing on women. This study delves into comparing these two forms of physical activity and their respective roles in reducing coronary events in women.
Methods: This prospective study analyzed 72,488 female nurses, aged 40 to 65 in 1986, who were initially free from cardiovascular disease and cancer. Over an eight-year follow-up period, participants completed detailed questionnaires about their physical activity. Researchers documented 645 new coronary events, defined as nonfatal myocardial infarction or death from coronary disease, to investigate the associations between total physical activity, walking, vigorous exercise, and these events.
Results:
Walking, specifically, demonstrated a strong inverse link with coronary events. Women in the highest walking quintile, engaging in brisk walking for three or more hours weekly, exhibited a multivariate relative risk of 0.65 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.47 to 0.91) when compared to women who walked infrequently. Interestingly, regular vigorous exercise (≥6 MET) showed similar risk reductions, in the range of 30 to 40 percent. Notably, women who transitioned from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood or later experienced a decreased risk of coronary events compared to those who remained sedentary throughout.
Conclusions: The findings from this prospective study strongly suggest that both brisk walking and vigorous exercise are associated with considerable and comparable reductions in the incidence of coronary events among women. Whether through dedicated vigorous workouts or consistent brisk walking, increasing physical activity is a vital component of coronary heart disease prevention for women.
