The association between physical activity with incident obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes and hypertension in adults: a systematic review of longitudinal studies published after 2012

Abstract

Background: A growing body of studies that investigated the longitudinal association between physical activity (PA) and the outcome of incident obesity, coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes and hypertension has become available in recent years. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review was to provide an update on the association between PA and onset of obesity, CHD, diabetes and hypertension in individuals aged ≥18 years who were free of the respective conditions at baseline. Methods: We systematically searched OVID, Pubmed, and Web of Science databases for pertinent literature published between January of 2012 and February of 2019. To ensure that conclusions are based on high quality evidence, we only included longitudinal studies conducted in samples of ≥500 participants and with ≥5 years of follow-up. Result: The search yielded 8929 records of which 26 were included in this review. Three studies were conducted on the outcome of incident obesity, eight on incident CHD, nine on incident diabetes, four on incident hypertension, one on the outcome of both diabetes and hypertension, and one on the outcome of CHD, diabetes and hypertension. Overall, there was an association between PA and lower risk of incident obesity, CHD and diabetes, but not hypertension. Higher levels or amount of PA were associated with a reduced risk of new onset of the respective diseases in 20 studies (77%). Whereas four studies reported an elevated risk of incidence of diseases with lower PA levels (15%). PA was not associated with incidence of diseases in two studies (8%).

Evidence for shared genetics between physical activity, sedentary behaviour and adiposity‐related traits

“…Yet, in contrast to the prevailing expectations, observational longitudinal studies suggest that higher adiposity at baseline is associated with lower physical activity and longer time spent sedentary at follow‐up, indicating that greater adiposity may lead to lower levels of physical activity 5–10 . Some, but fewer, longitudinal studies have suggested the opposite—expected—direction in the relationship, namely, a negative correlation between physical activity and weight gain after several years of follow‐up 11,12 . Inference of causal relationships between physical activity/sedentary behaviour and adiposity is limited by the nature of observational longitudinal studies with repeated assessments at single time points at fairly long intervals, before, during and after which the changes in the variables cannot be monitored.…”

Physical activity and exercise in the context of SARS-Cov-2: A perspective from geroscience field

“…The simplest and most illustrative examples are: a) the in/out energy balance; and b) increased cardiorespiratory reserves. Regarding energy balance, PA-related energy expenditure would reduce the risk of obesity ( Cleven et al, 2020 ; Bell et al, 2014 ; Pavey et al, 2016 ); obesity is one of the most important risk factors for severe SARS-Cov-2 infections. For cardiorespiratory fitness, the SARS-Cov-2-associated hypoxemia pneumonia ( Yang et al, 2020 ) is a major clinical sign of the infection; it is therefore plausible to think exercise, which is highly associated with increased cardiorespiratory fitness, including among older adults ( Hurst et al, 2019 ), would reduce the risk of hypoxia and its deleterious effects because exercise increases cardiorespiratory reserves (improved heart and lung functioning), keeping infected individuals away from the cut-point below which low cardiorespiratory fitness is critical to help the organism fighting against the infection.…”

Separation of constituents from Bergenia stracheyi (Hook. F. & Thoms.) Engl. by high‐speed countercurrent chromatography with elution mode and its antidiabetic and antioxidant in vitro evaluation

“…Diabetes is a noncommunicable disease and a major threat to economies and societies as identified by WHO. The management of diabetes is more costly in low‐ and middle‐income and emerging market countries [4, 5]. As an alternative, the emphasis on phytochemicals [6] and herbal products [7] provide cost‐effective strategies to combat diabetes.…”