Increased Physical Activity Lowers Risk of Irregular Heartbeat in Older Women

Older obese women can ward off the risk of irregular heartbeat by adhering to regular physical exercise.

Irregular heartbeat is also addressed as arrhythmia or abnormal heart rhythm. This condition occurs with rapid heart rate i.e. faster than 100 beats per minute or it can occur at normal heart rate or slow heart rate i.e. less than 50 beats per minute. It is estimated that in the U.S. over 850,000 people are hospitalized for arrhythmia each year.

Those suffering from the condition are advised by the doctors to engage in physical exercise. But the type and amount of exercise is what matters the most. The American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal report states that increasing the intensity of physical activity can lower the chances of older women developing a life-threatening irregular heartbeat.

This study included over 81,000 post-menopausal women, aged between 50-79 years, who were part of the Women's Health Initiative. At the beginning of the study, the participants were asked: how often they walked outside for more than 10 minutes daily and how often they engaged in vigorous physical activity.

The researchers noticed that the post-menopausal women who were found to be the most physically active had a 20 percent reduced risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) when compared to those with low levels of physical activity even if the women were obese. One of the key risk factors for AF is obesity.

"We found the more physically active the women were, the less likely it was that they would develop atrial fibrillation," said Marco V. Perez, M.D., lead author of the study and independent instructor in cardiovascular medicine and director of the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Calif. "Also, the more obese the women were, the more they benefited from having greater degrees of physical activity."

The participants were followed for 11 years, after which the researchers noticed that the physically active women who spent 9 MET hours per week had 10 percent lower risk of developing AF. MET is used to measure the amount of energy burnt during physical activity. 9 MET hours per week is approximately equivalent to walking briskly for 30 minutes six days a week or bicycling at a leisure pace for an hour twice a week.

The risk of developing AF dropped by 6 percent among the moderately, physically active women and further a drop of 9 percent lower risk of developing AD if they engaged in strenuous physical activity.

"Earlier research suggested that strenuous exercise might increase the risk for AF, but "there shouldn't be concerns about these degrees of exercise and AF in older women," Perez said.

The study was documented in the Journal of American Heart Association.