Does Physical Activity Increase Life Expectancy? A Review of the Literature

Table 3

Cohort studies comparing the life expectancy of physically active and inactive persons.

Sex	Age (class) at start of followup	Authors	Country	Number of individuals, duration of followup	Estimate additional years of life (95% CI) (years)	Activity of the “active” group	Activity of the “inactive” group	Confounding factors
Women	30	Fraser and Shavlik [17]	USA	^#12 y	2.19; (0.92–3.45)^*	At least 3 times per week vigorous all-day or sports activities ≥15 min.	Less than 3 times per week intensive all-day and sportive activities ≥15 min.	Vegetarian/nonvegetarian, high/low nut consumption, body mass index, never/past smoker, hormone replacement therapy
	30	Wen et al. [27]	Taiwan	216.910; 8.05±4.02 y	3.67; 84.08 versus 87.75	Very vigorous physical activity (≥25.5 MET·h/week) during leisure time	Inactivity (<3.75 MET·h/week) during leisure time	Age, sex, education, physical work, smoking, alcohol consumption, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, cancer, fasting glucose, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, body mass index
	45	Bélanger et al. [28]	Canada	^#2 y	6.9; 81.7 versus 88.6	≥1.5 kcal/kg/d; energy expenditure during leisure time	<1.5 kcal/kg/d; energy expenditure during leisure time
	50	Jonker et al. [18]	USA; (Framingham Heart Study)	2.813; 12 y	3.7; (2.6–4.9); 82.3 versus 86.0	High physical activity level (>33 METs/d)	Low physical activity level (<30 METs/d)	Age, education, smoking, marital status, cardiovascular and lung diseases, cancer, left ventricular hypertrophy, arthritis, ankle edema, total cholesterol, familial history of diabetes mellitus
	50	Nusselder et al. [20]	The Netherlands	1.447; 2 y	1.8; (0.5–2.7); 76.5 versus 78.3	Walking, biking, gardening, sports >17.33 METs/week	Walking, biking, gardening, sports <12 METs/week	Age, sex, education, cardiovascular disease, cancer, COPD, arthritis, back complaints, neurological diseases
	50	Nusselder et al. [19]	USA (Framingham Heart Study)	2.873; 12 y	3.4; (2.3–4.5); 82.7 versus 86.1	High physical activity level (>33 METs/d)	Low physical activity level (<30 METs/d)	Age, sex, education, marital status, smoking, body mass index, blood pressure, cancer, diabetes mellitus, left ventricular hypertrophy, ankle edema, any pulmonary disease, smoking
	65	Ferrucci et al. [29]	USA	5.215; 6 y	Nonsmoker: 5.7; 77.7 versus 83.4; Smoker: 4.2; 76.1 versus 80.3	High physical activity (gardening, walking, vigorous exercise) each once per week or several times per month or one of these activities several times per week and another activity once per week or several times per month	Activities as in the active group at most once per month
Men	30	Fraser and Shavlik [17]	USA	^#12 y	2.1; (0.4–3.9)^*	At least 3 times per week vigorous all-day or sports activities ≥15 min.	Less than 3 times per week intense all-day and sportive activities ≥15 min.	Vegetarian/nonvegetarian, high/low nut consumption, body mass index, never/past smoker, hormone replacement therapy
	30	Wen et al. [27]	Taiwan	199.265; 8.05±4.02 y	4.21; 80.37 versus 84.58	Very vigorous physical activities (≥25.5 MET·h/week) during leisure time	Inactivity (<3.75 MET·h/week) during leisure time	Age, sex, education, physical work, smoking, drinking, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, history of cancer, fasting blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, body mass index
	35–39	Paffenbarger et al. [21]	USA (Harvard Alumni)	16.936; 16 y	1.5^*	Physical activities (walking, climbing stairs, sports) ≥2.000 kcal/week	Physical activities (walking, climbing stairs, sports) <2.000 kcal/week	Age, cigarette smoking, arterial hypertension, body mass index, age of parental death
	35–39	Paffenbarger et al. [22]	USA (Harvard Alumni)	16.936; 12–16 y	2.51^*	Physical activities (walking, climbing stairs, sports) ≥2.000 kcal/week	Physical activities (walking, climbing stairs, sports) <500 kcal/week	Age, cigarette smoking, arterial hypertension, body mass index, age of parental death
	40–59	Menotti et al. [25]	Italy	1.712; 40 y	1.6^*	Physically active	Sedentary	Age, family history of both parents, mean blood pressure, serum cholesterol, mid-arm circumference, forced exspiratory volume, chronic diseases (cardiovascular, diabetes mellitus, cancer), corneal arcus, xanthelasma, body mass index
	45	Bélanger et al. [28]	Canada	^#2 y	3.9; 76.9 versus 80.8	≥1.5 kcal/kg/d energy expenditure during leisure time	<1.5 kcal/kg/d energy expenditure during leisure time
	45–54	Paffenbarger et al. [23]	USA (Harvard Alumni)	10.269; 8 y	0.43^*	Physical activities ≥2.000 kcal/week	Physical activities <2.000 kcal/week	Age, cigarette smoking, arterial hypertension, overweight, early parental death
	45–54	Paffenbarger et al. [24]	USA (Harvard Alumni)	14.785; 11 y	1.78^*	Physical activity (walking, stair climbing, sports, or recreational activities) increased from <1.500 to ≥1.500 kcal/week	Physical activity (walking, stair climbing, sports, or recreational activities) continuing <1.500 kcal/week	Age, cigarette smoking, arterial hypertension, overweight, alcohol consumption, early parental death, chronic diseases
	50	Jonker et al. [18]	USA (Framingham Heart Study)	2.396; 12 y	4.1; (2.8–5.4); 75.3 versus 79.4	High physical activity level (>30 METs/d)	Low physical activity level (<30 METs/d)	Age, education, smoking, marital status, cardiovascular and lung diseases, cancer, left ventricular hypertrophy, arthritis, ankle edema, total cholesterol, familial history of diabetes mellitus
	50	Nusselder et al. [20]	The Netherlands	1.519; 2 y	2.9; (0.9–4.3); 74.8 versus 76.7	Walking, biking, gardening, sports >17.33 METs/week	Walking, biking, gardening, sports <12 METs/week	Age, sex, education, cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis, back complaints, neurological diseases
	50	Nusselder et al. [19]	USA (Framingham Heart Study)	2.336; 12 y	3.5; (2.5–4.6); 76.4 versus 80.0	High physical activity level (>33 METs/d)	Low physical activity level (<30 METs/d)	Age, sex, education, marital status, body mass index, blood pressure, cancer, diabetes mellitus, left ventricular hypertrophy, ankle edema, any pulmonary disease, smoking
	50	Byberg et al. [16]	Sweden	2.205; 35 y	2.3; (1.3–3.3)^*	Regularly hard physical training or competitive sport or any active recreational sports or heavy gardening at least 3 hours every week	Spending most of the time reading, watching TV, going to the cinema, or engaging in other, mostly sedentary activities	Smoking, weight and height, alcohol use, obesity, diabetes mellitus, musculoskeletal, neurological, or psychiatric disorders, blood pressure, antihypertensive drugs, total serum cholesterol, educational level, socioeconomic group
	65	Ferrucci et al. [29]	USA	3.389; 6 y	Nonsmoker: 5.2; 76.0 versus 81.2; Smoker: 3.4; 74.5 versus 77.9	High physical activity (gardening, walking, vigorous exercise) each once per week or several times per month or one of these activities several times per week and another activity once per week or several times per month	Activities as in the active group maximally once per month

^*Total life expectancy not presented, ^#number of individuals not differentiated between men and women.