title: To run or not to run? That is the question: exercise and reduced risk of coronary heart disease.
abstract: The recent National Fitness Survey has drawn attention to the population's low level of physical (aerobic) fitness and low level of activity. About one-third of middle-aged men and one-half of middle-aged women in England are unfit for continuous walking at a normal pace of about 3 mph. Similar fitness levels were shown for the Welsh population. At the same time, coronary heart disease (CHD) accounts for about 26% of deaths in England, and for 2.5% of the NHS expenditure. The suggestion that low fitness levels and low levels of physical activity are associated with a high incidence of CHD has been widely voiced since Morris's first study, and has more recently been the subject of editorials in the British Heart Journal and the BMJ.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Birmingham.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Head
mesh_terms: D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D012307:Risk Factors