Non-vigorous physical activity and all-cause mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.

James Woodcock (1) , Oscar H Franco (2) , Nicola Orsini (3) , I G Roberts (4)

1 EPH
2 Health Sciences Research Institute
3 Institute of Environmental Medicine
4 PHIRU

Background: Although previous studies have found physical activity to be associated with lower mortality, the dose-response relation remains unclear. In this systematic review and meta-analysis we quantify the dose response relation of non-vigorous physical activity on all-cause mortality. Methods: We aimed to include all cohort studies in adult populations with a sample size >10,000 participants that estimated the effect of different levels of light or moderate physical activity on all-cause mortality. We searched Medline, Embase, Cochrane (DARE), Web of Science, and Global Health (June 2009). We used dose-response meta-regression models to estimate the relation between non-vigorous physical activity and mortality. Results: We identified 22 studies that met our inclusion criteria, including 977,925 (334,738 men and 643,187 women) people. There was considerable variation between the studies in their categorization of physical activity and adjustment for potential confounders. We found that 2.5 hours per week (equivalent to 30 minutes daily of moderate intensity activity on 5 days a week) compared with no activity was associated with a reduction in mortality risk of 19% (95% CI 15% to 24%), while 7 hours per week of moderate activity compared with no activity reduced the mortality risk by 24% (95% CI 19% to 29%). We found a smaller effect in studies that looked at walking alone. Conclusion: Being physically active reduces the risk of all cause mortality. The largest benefit was found from moving from no activity to low levels of activity, but even at high levels of activity benefits accrue from additional activity.

Mots clés: Medicine

James Woodcock, Oscar H Franco, Nicola Orsini, I G Roberts. Non-vigorous physical activity and all-cause mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2010, ⟨10.1093/ije/DYQ104⟩. ⟨hal-00608719⟩