Using data from a national survey representing more than 19 million U.S. women with established cardiovascular disease, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say that more than half of women with the condition do not do enough physical activity and those numbers have grown over the last decade. These results imply that targeted counseling to exercise more could reduce risk of cardiovascular disease as well as associated health care costs over their lifetimes.
The researchers say their results suggest that women diagnosed with such disorders as coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, heart rhythm disturbances and peripheral artery disease should talk to their physicians about how to increase their physical activity levels to maintain optimal cardiac health and decrease health care costs associated with cardiac disability.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), heart disease remains the #1 killer of American women, 43 million of whom are affected by the condition. The study, described in the April 12, 2019, issue of JAMA Network Open, notes that total health care costs among women with cardiovascular disease who met AHA-recommended physical activity guidelines were about 30 percent less than costs among those who did not meet the guidelines.
“Physical activity is a known, cost-effective prevention strategy for women with and without cardiovascular disease, and our study shows worsening health and financial trends over time among women with cardiovascular disease who don’t get enough physical activity,” says Victor Okunrintemi, M.D., M.P.H., a former Johns Hopkins Medicine research fellow who is now an internal medicine resident at East Carolina University. “We have more reason than ever to encourage women with cardiovascular disease to move more.”
Read more at Johns Hopkins Medicine
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