Lean Teens Have a Reduced Risk of Heart Attack Later

It is well known that regular physical activity lowers risk of major chronic illnesses. A latest study adding weight to the evidence claims that physically fit teenagers have a reduced risk of heart attacks in later life.

The study conducted by an Umea research team suggests that men who were physically fit during their teens have a reduced risk of heart attack later compared to men who were obese during their teens. Such men have an elevated risk of heart attacks than unfit and lean men.

Based on the analysis of 743,498 Swedish men, the researchers Gabriel Hogstrom, Anna Nordstrom and Peter Nordstrom, a professor at the Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Geriatrics, at Umea University, have shown that the risk of heart attacks was low in slim teens. Fit but overweight or obese men also were susceptible to having heart trouble.

The researchers investigated over 700,000 Swedish men of age 18 who were recruited into the national service from 1969-1984. By assigning a bicycle test to the subjects the researchers measured the fitness level of the men. During the bicycle test there was a gradual elevation in the resistance up to a point where the subjects were too exhausted to continue.

The subjects were monitored for an average of 34 years to a point when they had a heart attack or died or till Jan. 1, 2011- which ever event came first.

The researchers noticed that the risk of suffering from a heart attack 30 years later dropped by 18 percent for every 15 percent increase in physical fitness (different variables like BMI, socioeconomic status etc were factored in). This study also reveals that regular physical activity done during the later teenage years is consistent with a 35 percent reduced risk of premature heart attacks.

In the whole data group, out of 100,000, nearly 1,222 men suffered heart attacks. Forty three  percent in this group were lean or had a normal weight during their teens and their fitness levels were above average. In this group just 803 out of the 100,000 men suffered heart attacks.

"The heart attack risk was reduced with about 35% among lean men and those with a normal weight at the end of their teens. But the study only shows that there is a correlation between fitness and a reduced prevalence of heart attack; we were unable to show specifically that a higher level of physical fitness reduces the risk of heart attacks," says Peter Nordstrom.

This is the first study that looks at the association between physical fitness in teenagers and the risk of heart attacks in later life. This link between fitness and heart trouble may be influenced by several factors. And a few might be genetically inclined to have a high level of physical fitness and a low risk of heart disease.

The findings were documented in the European Heart Journal.