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TOPLINE:

Any amount of moderate or vigorous incidental physical activity (IPA) — nonexercise movements performed daily such as transportation, work, housework, or other domestic activities — was associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD)–related outcomes.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed data from a prospective cohort to examine the relationship between IPA and CVD-related outcomes.
• They included 24,139 adults (mean age, 61.9 years; 56.2% women) who reported no participation in structured exercise and had completed a maximum of one recreational walk per week.
• The PA energy expenditure of participants was calculated on the basis of the total IPA volume for three intensity bands using data from accelerometers worn on wrists for 7 days between 2013 and 2015.
• The intensity of PA was classified into three bands using a validated machine learning classification system: Light (2-3 metabolic equivalents [METs]), moderate (3-6 METs), and vigorous (≥ 6 METs)
• Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) included any major CVD death or nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke, and heart failure, assessed over a mean follow-up duration of 7.9 years.

TAKEAWAY:

• The median energy expenditure of 24.9 kJ/kg/d was associated with lower risk for MACE (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.54; 95% CI, 0.44-0.67), CVD mortality (aHR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.26-0.58), and all-cause mortality (aHR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.30-0.44) than the reference values.
• A median of 4.3-4.6 min/d of vigorous IPA was associated with 25%, 38%, and 24% lower risk for MACE, CVD mortality, and all-cause mortality, respectively; a median of 23.4-23.9 min/d of moderate IPA was linked to 40%, 50%, and 47% lower risks, respectively.
• Light IPA showed an inverse relationship with the risk for all outcomes, with statistical significance attained only with CVD mortality at levels exceeding approximately 130 min/d.
• One minute of vigorous IPA was equivalent to 3.0-3.5 minutes of moderate IPA in terms of reduced CV risk.

IN PRACTICE:

“These health equivalence findings provide meaningful insight beyond the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach by offering perspective into multiple physical activity avenues to achieve the same potential benefit,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, of the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia. It was published online on April 14, 2024, in Circulation.

LIMITATIONS:

This study had a lag time of 5.5 years between the initial baseline measurements determining nonexercising status and subsequent accelerometer measurements. The possibility of uncaptured confounding remained. The conclusions of this study were on the basis of observational data, necessitating future trials to confirm the findings.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was funded by an investigator grant from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. One author reported being a paid consultant and holding equity in Complement 1, a company providing services related to PA. All other authors reported having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.