Independent and Combined Association of Physical Activity and Cardiac Disease on Mortality Risk in the Very Old

Objectives: This study investigated physical activity as a predictor of all-cause mortality among 75- and 80-year-old people with and without chronic cardiac disease over a 10-year follow-up period. Method: Using the Evergreen Project data, four study groups were formed according to the respondent’s self-reported level of physical activity as well as chronic cardiac diseases: active without cardiac disease (control group = ANCD), active with cardiac disease (ACD), sedentary without cardiac disease (SNCD), and sedentary with cardiac disease (SCD). Results: In the analyses, the ACD (HR 1.69, 95% CI 1.02-2.81) and the SNCD (1.76, 1.14-2.73) groups had almost one and a half times greater risk of dying than the control group, while the SCD group had almost three times (2.77, 1.80-4.26) greater risk of dying than the control group. Discussion: Among the older people with cardiac disease, a physically active lifestyle was associated with lower mortality.