Firestormm
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Short, regular bouts of exercise could add years to your life, say expertsExercise can be as good a medicine as pills for people with conditions such as heart disease, a study has found.
The work in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) [below] looked at hundreds of trials involving nearly 340,000 patients to assess the merits of exercise and drugs in preventing death.
Physical activity rivalled some heart drugs and outperformed stroke medicine.
The findings suggest exercise should be added to prescriptions, say the researchers.
Experts stressed that patients should not ditch their drugs for exercise - rather, they should use both in tandem.
Prescriptions rise
Too few adults currently get enough exercise. Only a third of people in England do the recommended 2.5 hours or more of moderate-intensity activity, such as cycling or fast walking, every week.
In contrast, prescription drug rates continue to rise.
There were an average of 17.7 prescriptions for every person in England in 2010, compared with 11.2 in 2000.
For the study, scientists based at the London School of Economics, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine trawled medical literature to find any research that compared exercise with pills as a therapy.
They identified 305 trials to include in their analysis. These trials looked at managing conditions such as existing heart disease, stroke rehabilitation, heart failure and pre-diabetes.
When they studied the data as a whole, they found exercise and drugs were comparable in terms of death rates.
But there were two exceptions.
Drugs called diuretics were the clear winner for heart failure patients, while exercise was best for stroke patients in terms of life expectancy.
Health benefits
Doing exercise regularly:
Source: NHS Choices
- Can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer by up to 50%
- Can lower your risk of early death by up to 30%
- Can boost self-esteem, mood, sleep quality and energy as well as keep weight off
- Moderate activity, such as cycling or fast walking, gives your heart and lungs a work-out
Amy Thompson, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said that although an active lifestyle brings many health benefits, there is not enough evidence to draw any firm conclusions about the merit of exercise above and beyond drugs.
"Medicines are an extremely important part of the treatment of many heart conditions and people on prescribed drugs should keep taking their vital meds. If you have a heart condition or have been told you're at high risk of heart disease, talk to your doctor about the role that exercise can play in your treatment."
Dr Peter Coleman of the Stroke Association said exercise alongside drugs had a vital role that merited more research.
"We would like to see more research into the long-term benefits of exercise for stroke patients.
"By taking important steps, such as regular exercise, eating a balanced diet and stopping smoking, people can significantly reduce their risk of stroke."
"Moderate physical activity, for example, can reduce the risk of stroke by up to 27%."
Research
Comparative effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions on mortality outcomes: metaepidemiological study
Abstract
Objective
To determine the comparative effectiveness of exercise versus drug interventions on mortality outcomes.
Design
Metaepidemiological study.
Eligibility criteria
Meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials with mortality outcomes comparing the effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions with each other or with control (placebo or usual care).
Data sources
Medline and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, May 2013.
Main outcome measure
Mortality.
Data synthesis
We combined study level death outcomes from exercise and drug trials using random effects network meta-analysis.
Results
We included 16 (four exercise and 12 drug) meta-analyses. Incorporating an additional three recent exercise trials, our review collectively included 305 randomised controlled trials with 339 274 participants.
Across all four conditions with evidence on the effectiveness of exercise on mortality outcomes (secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, rehabilitation of stroke, treatment of heart failure, prevention of diabetes), 14 716 participants were randomised to physical activity interventions in 57 trials. No statistically detectable differences were evident between exercise and drug interventions in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and prediabetes.
Physical activity interventions were more effective than drug treatment among patients with stroke (odds ratios, exercise v anticoagulants 0.09, 95% credible intervals 0.01 to 0.70 and exercise v antiplatelets 0.10, 0.01 to 0.62).
Diuretics were more effective than exercise in heart failure (exercise v diuretics 4.11, 1.17 to 24.76). Inconsistency between direct and indirect comparisons was not significant.
Conclusions
Although limited in quantity, existing randomised trial evidence on exercise interventions suggests that exercise and many drug interventions are often potentially similar in terms of their mortality benefits in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, rehabilitation after stroke, treatment of heart failure, and prevention of diabetes.