title: Fitness, work, and leisure-time physical activity and ischaemic heart disease and all-cause mortality among men with pre-existing cardiovascular disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to study the relative impact of physical fitness, physical demands at work, and physical activity during leisure time on ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and all-cause mortality among employed men with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD).
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a 30-year follow-up of the Copenhagen Male Study of 274 gainfully employed men, aged 40-59 years who had a history of CVD (ie, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, and intermittent claudication). We estimated physical fitness [maximal oxygen consumption (VO (2)Max)] using the Astrand cycling test and determined physical work demands and leisure-time physical activity using a self-reported questionnaire. Results Among 274 men with a history of CVD, 93 men died from IHD. Using male employees with a history of CVD and a low level of fitness as the reference group, our Cox analyses - adjusted for age, blood pressure, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, physical work demands, leisure-time physical activity, and social class - showed a substantially reduced risk for IHD mortality among employees who were intermediately fit [VO (2)Max range 25-36; hazard ratio (HR) 0.54, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) CI 0.32-0.93] and highly fit (VO (2)Max range 37-50; HR 0.28, 95% CI 0.12-0.66). We found a positive, but statistically non-significant association between physical demands at work and all-cause mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among gainfully employed men with pre-existing CVD, a high physical fitness was associated with a substantially reduced risk for IHD and all-cause mortality.
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark. aho@nrcwe.dk
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holtermann
authors.forename: Ole Steen
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Burr
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Søgaard
authors.forename: Finn
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gyntelberg
authors.forename: Poul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Suadicani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007383:Intermittent Claudication / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D016272:Occupational Health; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010809:Physical Fitness; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014937:Work