Preventive fraction of physical fitness on risk factors in cardiac patients: Retrospective epidemiological study

Aim: To quantify the preventive fraction of physical fitness on the risk factors in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

Methods: A total of 249 subjects (205 men and 44 women) suffering from CVD were categorized into four groups, according to their percentage of physical fitness. We calculated the odds ratio to obtain the preventive fraction in order to evaluate the impact of the physical fitness level on the risk factors (i.e., abdominal obesity, depression, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, obesity, overweight and smoking).

Results: It is observed that a normal physical fitness level is sufficient to induce a preventive action on abdominal obesity (38%), diabetes (12%), hypertension (33%), obesity (12%) and overweight (11%). Also, the preventive fraction increases with the level of physical fitness, in particular for hypertension (36%) and overweight (16%). A high physical fitness level does not necessarily induce a preventive action in most risk factors, excluding depression.

Conclusion: This is the first study which demonstrates that reaching a normal physical fitness level is enough to induce a protection for some risk factors, despite having a CVD.