Getting more fit might reduce the risk of death for elderly men with high blood pressure, a new study suggests.
Compared to the least-fit men, those who had the highest levels of fitness had nearly half the risk of death. For men in the low-fitness category, the risk of dying was 18% lower. And, men in the moderate-fitness category had a 36% lower death risk, according to the study.
A moderate "level of fitness is achievable by most elderly individuals engaging in a brisk walk of 20 to 40 minutes, most days of the week," lead author Dr Charles Faselis, a professor of medicine at George Washington University in Washington, DC, said in a news release from the journal Hypertension.
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Death rate cut in half
Researchers used a standard treadmill test to assess the fitness of more than 2 100 men, 70 and older, with high blood pressure. They were classified as being least-fit, low-fit, moderately-fit or high-fit. The men were followed for an average of nine years.
"The death rate is cut in half for those in the highest fitness category," he noted.
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