Long-term exercise tied to coronary artery calcium progression but low CVD: CARDIA Study

China: Research showed that long-term physical activity (PA) about three times the guidelines or more is independently associated with the progression of coronary artery calcium (CAC). However, the researchers found no additional risk of incident CVD events. The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. 

The researchers reported, "after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors people in the high physical activity trajectory group had a higher risk of CAC progression versus those in the low activity trajectory group. The high physical activity trajectory group was not tied to an increased risk of incident cardiovascular events." 

The study was conducted by Jing-Wei Gao, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, and colleagues with the aim to assess the associations of PA trajectories across a 25-year span with CAC progression and subsequent risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events.

For this purpose, the researchers included participants from the Coronary Artery Disease Risk Development in Young Adults study who had computed tomography assessment of CAC at baseline (year 15: 2000–2001) and follow-up (year 20 or 25) and at least three measures of PA from year 0 to year 25. Latent class modelling using a validated questionnaire determined long-term PA trajectories.