By Staff Reports
(Oahu)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Even people who become more aerobically fit starting at midlife might reduce their risk of heart failure. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas saw this in data on fitness in 9,000 people who were followed for 18 years.
The researchers found that the more fit people were, the lower their risk of heart failure. Heart failure is when the heart can’t pump enough blood, which is different from coronary heart disease, when fatty deposits clog the coronary arteries.
Researcher Jarett Berry:
“Low fitness levels earlier in life are particularly important for heart failure risk across the lifespan, and appear to be more important for heart failure risk than for coronary heart disease risk.’’
The study presented at an American Heart Association meeting was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.