Lack of Exercise, Potential Reason Some Heart Attacks Lead to Instant Deaths

A data analysis recently published from 10 European studies has shown lack of exercise as a potential reason why some heart attacks lead to instant deaths.

According to the research, which the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology recently published, the "lifestyle factor may play" a vital role in whether an individual survives a heart attack.

A past study has extensively assessed the association between lifestyle factors, including physical activity, and a person's odds of developing heart ailment -- the leading cause of death worldwide.

This new research narrows down things, evaluating whether "physical activity or lack thereof impacts a person's chance of instantly dying due to heart attack.

Study on Healthy People Who Later Had a Heart Attack

Slash Gear reported, the analysis included in the data on roughly 28,000 people who were initially healthy when the data was first gathered and who later experienced a heart attack at some point when the researchers did a follow-up.

Activity data divided the volunteers into four classifications that ranged from sedentary to high. The study adjusted for other possible impacting factors such as smoking status, diabetes and BMI.

The research looked at participants who died within 28 days of having heart attack. As a result, out of over 4,900 people, around 3,101 of them died instantly because of heart attack.

The study investigators discovered a link between the risk of instant death and lack of exercise or physical activity, which exhibits in a dose-response-like way.

Compared to those who had sedentary lifestyles, the study participants who got moderate and high physical activity levels encountered a respective drop in risk of instant death by 33 to 45 percent. Such findings specify that engaging in regular exercise may help shield against deadly heart attacks.

Research Findings

According to Copenhagen, Denmark-based Bispebjerg Hospital's Dr. Kim Wadth Hansen, the study author, nearly 18 percent of patients who had a heart attack died within 28 days, validating this condition's severity.

The researchers found as well an immediate survival benefit of "prior physical activity in a heart attack's setting," an advantage which appeared "preserved at 28 days."

The study author noted as well that based on their analyses, even low leisure-time physical activity might actually be advantageous against deadly heart attacks, although statistical uncertainty "precludes us from drawing any firm conclusions on that point."

Moreover, the researchers said in their study that their pooled analysis offers strong backing for the recommendations on weekly physical activity in healthy adults indicated in the 2016 European Guidelines on cardiovascular diseases prevention in clinical practice; especially as they used 'cut-off' values for physical activity compared to the ones used in the guidelines.

Specifically, the guidelines propose that healthy adult individuals, regardless of their age, perform at least 150 minutes each week of moderate-intensity or roughly 75 minutes each week of vigorously intensely aerobic exercise or an equivalent combination thereof.

In conclusion, Dr. Hansen said, there are various ways to be active physically at little or no cost. Their study offers yet more evidence for the benefits of exercise.

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