An active lifestyle prior to coronary surgery is associated with improved survival in elderly patients.
BACKGROUND
An active lifestyle is associated with a reduced cardiovascular risk in middle-aged as well as in elderly patients. In the present study, we investigated the association between physical activity habits of elderly participants prior to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and survival free from both all-cause and cardiac death.


RESULTS
Study population consisted of 587 elderly patients (>or=70 years) CABG patients stratified, according to the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE), into less active (low PASE) and exercised (high PASE) groups. At follow-up (mean: 44.3 +/- 21.0 months), 33 (37.1%) of 89 total deaths occurred for cardiac causes. Sixty-month survival rate was 65% and 96% for low-PASE and high-PASE groups, respectively (log rank = 49.460, p < .0001). Cox survival analysis indicated a significant (p < .0001) nonlinear association between PASE score increments and improved survival with the most evident differences in the lowest score categories. A robust association was also found between low PASE score and increased cardiac-related mortality (p < .0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data indicate that a more active lifestyle is significantly associated with improved survival in elderly CABG patients. The nonlinearity of the relation suggests that more sedentary patients could have the most benefit on survival by increasing their exercise lifestyle habits. The improved outcome is explained by both cardiac and overall mortality reduction.
Rengo
Giuseppe
G
Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Scienze Cardiovascolari ed Immunologiche, Federico II University, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy. dleosco@unina.it.
Galasso
Gennaro
G
Vitale
Dino F
DF
Furgi
Giuseppe
G
Zincarelli
Carmela
C
Golino
Luca
L
Femminella
Grazia D
GD
Piscione
Federico
F
Rengo
Franco
F
Leosco
Dario
D
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis