Dose of Jogging and Long-Term Mortality

Fro Ins an of tha Lis Yo Ma BACKGROUND People who are physically active have at least a 30% lower risk of death during follow-up compared with those who are inactive. However, the ideal dose of exercise for improving longevity is uncertain. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the association between jogging and long-term, all-cause mortality by focusing specifically on the effects of pace, quantity, and frequency of jogging. METHODS As part of the Copenhagen City Heart Study, 1,098 healthy joggers and 3,950 healthy nonjoggers have been prospectively followed up since 2001. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed with age as the underlying time scale and delayed entry. RESULTS Compared with sedentary nonjoggers, 1 to 2.4 h of jogging per week was associated with the lowest mortality (multivariable hazard ratio [HR]: 0.29; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.11 to 0.80). The optimal frequency of jogging was 2 to3 timesperweek (HR:0.32;95%CI:0.15 to0.69) or#1 timeperweek (HR:0.29; 95%CI:0.12 to0.72). The optimal pace was slow (HR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.24 to 1.10) or average (HR: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.66). The joggers were divided into light, moderate, and strenuous joggers. The lowest HR for mortality was found in light joggers (HR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.47), followed by moderate joggers (HR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.32 to 1.38) and strenuous joggers (HR: 1.97; 95% CI: 0.48 to 8.14). CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest a U-shaped association between all-cause mortality and dose of jogging as calibrated by pace, quantity, and frequency of jogging. Light and moderate joggers have lower mortality than sedentary nonjoggers, whereas strenuous joggers have a mortality rate not statistically different from that of the sedentary group. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2015;65:411–9) © 2015 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation. T he most famous case of sudden death in connection with running is that of Pheidippides, a professional running courier who in 490 B.C. is believed to have run from Marathon to Athens, Greece, a distance of approximately 25 miles, to bring news of the Athenian victory over the Persians. Upon reaching the Athenian Agora, he exclaimed “Nike!” (“victory”), collapsed, and died. m the *Copenhagen City Heart Study, Frederiksberg Hospital, Copenh titute and University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri; zDep d Section of Social Medicine, Institute of Public Health, University of Copen Cardiology, Hvidovre Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. Supported by the D t they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to dis ten to this manuscript’s audio summary by JACC Editor-in-Chief Dr. Vale u can also listen to this issue’s audio summary by JACC Editor-in-Chief D nuscript received September 10, 2014; revised manuscript received Octob Some historians, believing this is a myth, favor another version: that after his run from Marathon to Athens, Pheidippides continued to Sparta for military help. He ran the distance from Athens to Sparta, 137 miles, in 48 h (1). In 1953, Morris et al. (2) published a paper showing that mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) was more than twice as high in sedentary London bus agen, Denmark; ySaint Luke’s Mid America Heart artment of Respiratory Medicine, Hvidovre Hospital, hagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; and the xDepartment anish Heart Foundation. The authors have reported close. ntin Fuster. r. Valentin Fuster. er 14, 2014, accepted November 4, 2014. ABBR EV I A T I ON S