Published online Apr 26, 2018. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v10.i4.26
Peer-review started: January 18, 2018
First decision: January 31, 2018
Revised: March 15, 2018
Accepted: April 1, 2018
Article in press: April 1, 2018
Published online: April 26, 2018
Processing time: 98 Days and 8.5 Hours
To quantify the preventive fraction of physical fitness on the risk factors in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
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).
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.
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.
Core tip: The effect of physical fitness on the risk factors in patients who have developed a cardiovascular disease remains an open question. This retrospective study aims to measure the preventive fraction of the risk factors observed at different level of the physical fitness. Our work provides new insights on the aggregate role of physical fitness in the development of risk factors in patients with cardiovascular diseases. These results may interest the readership and the journal due to its novelty and of its possible therapeutic use.