Can the WHO ‘s recommendations of physical activity volume decrease the risk of heart disease in middle and older aged Chinese People: the evidence from a seven year longitudinal survey

BACKGROUND: At present, there is a lack of direct evidence to confirm whether the recommendations of the World Health Organization can play a role in fitness and disease prevention in the Chinese population. Therefore, we aimed to analyse 7-year longitudinal survey data to explore whether the physical activity volume recommended by the World Health Organization can help Chinese middle-aged and elderly people reduce the risk of heart disease. METHODS: Data for the 8327 participants who were finally included in this study were derived from the 7-year data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2018. The physical activity volume is expressed by the product of physical frequency and duration, and heart disease is screened according to self-reported diagnosis and related treatment. The relationship between different physical activity volume groups and the incidence rate of heart disease was determined by a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: After adjusting for all covariates, participants meeting the WHO’s recommendations had a 20% lower risk of heart disease than those who did not meet the WHO’s recommendations (HR = 0.80, 95% = 0.68–0.96). Subgroup analysis showed that among the participants meeting the WHO’s recommendations, men (HR = 0.71) had a lower risk of heart disease than women (HR = 0.74); in addition, the risk of heart disease was significantly reduced in participants who were middle-aged (26%), had a normal BMI range (49%), did not have hypertension (24%), did not have hyperlipidaemia (21%) and did not have lung disease (21%). It should be noted that the risk of heart disease was reduced by 72 and 67% in participants with untreated hyperlipidaemia and untreated lung disease, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that meeting the WHO’s recommendations for physical activity volume can reduce the risk of heart disease in middle-aged and older people in China and can also effectively prevent heart disease for people with some common chronic diseases, such as hyperlipidaemia and lung disease. The results showed that physical activity for leisure and exercise had a lower preventive effect on heart disease than physical activity for a job, which may be related to the inappropriate leisure and exercise methods of the participants. TRIAL REGISTRATION: IRB00001052–11015.