Researchers fell short of proving that so-called weekend warriors had better survival than inactive peers in a large cohort study, but maintained that this pattern of physical activity has benefit.
Over approximately 10 years, Americans who concentrated their exercise into 2 or fewer days a week (weekend warriors) had a non-significant 8% lower all-cause mortality compared to inactive individuals (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.83-1.02), according to Yafeng Wang, PhD, of Jiangnan University in Jiangsu, China, and colleagues.
In contrast, people claiming to engage in more regular exercise (at least 3 days a week) had a significant reduction in mortality (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.83-0.88), including deaths related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer, Wang’s group reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.
There were no significant differences in all-cause mortality and specific-cause mortality between weekend warriors and regular exercisers. It would seem that those who engaged in the recommended amount of physical activity each week experienced similar survival outcomes, regardless of how that activity was distributed, the investigators said.
“This is good news considering that the weekend warrior physical activity pattern may be a more convenient option for many people striving to achieve the recommended levels of physical activity,” Wang and colleagues said.
U.S. adults are advised to do 150-300 minutes of moderate exercise or 75-150 minutes of vigorous exercise each week, along with muscle and strength training twice per week to achieve the most benefits, according to recommendations on physical activity from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The study was conducted using self-reported data from the U.S. National Health Interview survey from 1997 to 2013. People with cancer, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, heart disease, stroke, or those with limitations or who were unable to perform moderate to vigorous physical activity were excluded from the study.
The included cohort consisted of 350,978 adults (mean age 41.4 years, roughly split between the sexes, and 67.8% non-Hispanic white) who had been followed over a median of 10.4 years.
Physical inactivity was defined as fewer than 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity weekly, whereas the physically active had to have reported meeting that threshold or 75 minutes of vigorous activity weekly.
During follow-up, 21,898 deaths occurred, of them 4,130 CVD deaths and 6,034 cancer deaths.
The observational nature of the study left room for residual confounding by dietary intake and other variables, Wang’s team cautioned.
The authors also acknowledged the possible measurement errors arising from self-reported data and added that participants were only questioned about leisure-time physical activity, not occupational activity.
“Thus, we recommend that future cohort studies [combine] both self-reported and device-measured physical activity,” they wrote.
Disclosures
Wang and colleagues reported no conflicts of interest.
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
