Higher fitness linked to reduced risk of death after first heart attack

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/jhm-hfl012716.php

Public Release: 1-Feb-2016
Higher fitness linked to reduced risk of death after first heart attack
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the Henry Ford Health System report evidence that higher levels of physical fitness may not only reduce risk of heart attacks and death from all causes, but also possibly improve the chances of survival after a first attack.

The findings, based on medical records data gathered from more than 2,000 men and women, are described in the online Feb. 1, 2016 edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

"We knew that fitter people generally live longer, but we now have evidence linking fitness to survival after a first heart attack," says Michael Blaha, M.D., M.P.H., director of clinical research for the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease and assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "It makes sense, but we believe this is the first time there is documentation of that association."

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The investigators noted that their study design has limitations, including the fact that they could not assess whether improving fitness levels as measured by MET scores can decrease the risk of death from a heart attack. Also, Blaha says, they didn't determine if people who are fitter have less damaging heart attacks, or if they have same-sized heart attacks as those who are unfit but survive them better. Decades of research show that cardiovascular fitness does increase blood flow to the heart and may aid in healing, which is a likely contributing factor to lower mortality rates.

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