CORRESPONDENCE: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Reply
Hiroyuki Noda, MD and
Hiroyasu Iso, MD*
* Public Health, Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Osaka University, Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Shuita-shi, Osaka 565-0871, Japan (Email: iso{at}pbhel.med.osaka-u.ac.jp).
In reply to Dr. Kasikcioglu's letter, our prospective study showed that sports participation of
5 times per week was associated with reduced risk of mortality from all cardiovascular and coronary heart disease (1). We did not have any information on physical activity intensity in our cohort. Also, our study did not provide information on the role of physical activity in postponing mortality in cardiac patients because we excluded subjects who had a history of stroke, coronary heart disease, and/or cancer at baseline inquiry. The U-shaped association between physical activity and stroke mortality was not observed in the present study, probably because the highest category of sports participation
5 times per week did not necessarily represent high intensive exercises. However, as far as sports participation, a potential benefit for reducing mortality from stroke was weak and not statistically significant.
As Dr. Kasikcioglu pointed out, our data lacked information regarding physical activity intensity, although a good correlation existed between the frequency of sports participation and the leisure-time physical activity score by the structural interview: Spearman's rank correlation was 0.53 in men and 0.58 in women (2).
We agree with Dr. Kasikcioglu's notion that the intensity of physical activity is estimated and accurately prescribed to reduce health risks before sports participation. Our data suggest that sports participation, when prescribed properly, has a potential benefit for reducing mortality from all cardiovascular and coronary heart disease.
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References
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- Noda H, Iso H, Toyoshima H, et al. Walking and sports participation and mortality from coronary heart disease and stroke J Am Coll Cardiol 2005;46:1761-1767.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Ohno Y, Tamakoshi A. Japan collaborative cohort study for evaluation of cancer risk sponsored by Monbusho (JACC study) J Epidemiol 2001;11:144-150.[Medline]