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Activity frequency and related health benefits

Title
Activity frequency and related health benefits

Research Area
Tackling Inactivity

Author
O'Donovan, G et al; JAMA Intern Med

Summary of Findings
Data from between 1994-2012 was collected for this pooled analysis of household-based surveillance studies using 11 cohorts (63,951 people aged 40+) of the Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey with prospective linkage to mortality records to assess risk of all cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality. Researchers split individuals in to four different activity levels: inactive, insufficiently active (those doing some activity but less than recommended amount and did 2 or fewer sessions), weekend warriors (those meeting the guidelines via being active for 1 or 2 sessions per week) and regularly active (those who met guidelines over 3 of more sessions a week). Compared to inactive participants, the hazard ratio for all-cause mortality was 0.66 for insufficiently active participants, 0.70 in weekend warriors and 0.65 for the regularly active. Compared with the inactive participants, the hazard ratio for cardiovascular disease mortality was 0.60 for the insufficiently active, 0.60 for weekend warriors and 0.59 for the regularly active. Compared with the inactive participants, the hazard ratio for cancer mortality was 0.83 for the insufficiently active, 0.82 for weekend warriors and 0.79 for the regularly active. The researchers concluded that weekend warrior and other leisure time activity patterns characterised by 1 or 2 weekly sessions may be sufficient to reduce all cause, CVD and cancer mortality risks.

Implications
Much of the consultation carried out by Active Black Country confirms there are varying levels of understanding amongst residents in relation to how much activity they're supposed to do. This research provides evidence that there is flexibility in terms of how many times a person needs to be active to get the health benefits.