Physical activity and Physical fitness in Prediction of all-cause Mortality and Age at Death in European Extinct Cohorts of middle-aged men followed for 60 Years

Summary

Background: A study of the power of physical activity (Phyac) and physical fitness (Fitscore) in predicting very long-term all-cause mortality and age at death (AD) is missing.Methods: A total of 5,482 middle-aged men were examined with measurement of several risk factors and followed for 60 years until virtual extinction of cohorts. Phyac in 3 classes was estimated from their type of work while Fitscore was derived from the linear combinations of levels of arm circumference, heart rate and vital capacity computed as a factor score by principal components analysis. Predictive power of these characteristics (adjusted for 5 traditional cardiovascular risk factors) was made by Cox models (for all-cause mortality) and multiple linear regression models (for AD). Results: Single levels of the 3 indicators of fitness were highly related to the 3 levels of Phyac and of Fitscore. High levels of both Phyac and of Fitscore forced into the same models were associated with lower all-cause mortality and higher AD. Predictive power of Fitscore was systematically better than that of Phyac. Hazard ratios (high versus low) for all-cause mortality were 0.85 (Phyac) and 0.70 (Fitscore). Coefficients (all significant) were 2.25 years (Phyac) and 3.79 of AD by Fitscore. Fitscore was independently and significantly predictive of all-cause mortality for both first and second 30-year follow-up periods. Conclusions: Phyac and Fitscore are related and both showed important predictive power for all-cause mortality and AD. The role of Fitscore was more powerful and both characteristics seem to be expressions of health status.