"In women, adolescent exercise participation, regardless of ãdül† exercise, was associated with reduced risk of cancer and all-cause mortality," says Sarah Nechuta. (Credit: You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.)
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Women who exercised when they were teenagers are less likely to die from cancer and from all other causes during middle-age and later in life.
“Our results support the importance of promoting exercise participation in adolescence to reduce mortality in later life and highlight the critical need for the initiation of disease prevention early in life,” says Sarah Nechuta, assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University.
Published in the journal You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., the study included data from the Shanghai Women’s Health Study, a large ongoing prospective cohort study of 74,941 Chinese women between the ages of 40 and 70.
The women enrolled in the study between 1996 and 2000. Each participant was interviewed at enrollment about exercise during adolescence, including participation in team sports, as well as other adolescent lifestyle factors. They were also asked about exercise during adulthood and other ãdül† lifestyle factors and socioeconomic status. Participants were interviewed again every two to three years.
Regular exercise was defined as occurring at least once a week for at least three continuous months. Women who reported regular adolescent exercise were also asked how many hours a week they participated and for how many years they had exercised regularly.
“In women, adolescent exercise participation, regardless of ãdül† exercise, was associated with reduced risk of cancer and all-cause mortality,” Nechuta says.
WHAT ABOUT CHRONIC DISEASES?
Participation in team sports during the teen years was associated with a reduced risk of cancer death later in life. Participation in exercise both during adolescence and recently as an ãdül† was significantly associated with a 20 percent reduced risk of death from all causes, 17 percent for cardiovascular disease, and 13 percent for cancer.
