Engaging in twice the recommended amount of physical activity was associated with a 22% reduction in all-cause mortality compared to the baseline activity level, according to a recent study.
A pooled analysis of over 2 million adults from multinational cohorts found that physical activity (PA) is consistently associated with reduced all-cause mortality risk, with benefits that modestly increase in older populations. The study included data from the U.S., United Kingdom, China, and Taiwan, with a median follow-up of 11.5 years.
Published in JAMA Network Open, these findings align with current physical activity guidelines and highlight the potential benefits of regular PA across the lifespan, particularly in older adults, where reductions in mortality risk are observed.
"The findings from this large international sample provide strong support for physical activity across all ages of the lifespan, and the benefits of physical activity appear to be sustained and may be enhanced with aging," wrote John M. Jakicic, PhD, in an accompanying editorial.
Meeting global PA recommendations—defined as 7.5 metabolic equivalent task (MET) hours per week, or 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity—was associated with a 14% reduction in mortality risk (hazard ratio [HR], 0.78).
Doubling this activity level to 15 MET-hours per week reduced mortality risk to 22%, while engaging in 3 to 5 times the recommended amount (22.5–37.5 MET-hours per week) was associated with a 25%-26% reduction. Benefits plateaued beyond five times the recommended level (37.5 MET-hours per week), with no significant additional reduction in mortality risk observed at higher activity levels.
The inverse association between PA and mortality was more pronounced in older age groups. For adults aged 20 to 29 years, the HR was 0.84 compared with 0.78 for those aged 80 years or older. A nonlinear dose-response relationship was observed, with greater benefits at higher PA levels until the plateau.
Other modifiable health factors, such as smoking cessation, maintaining a healthy weight, and living without hypertension, showed diminishing associations with mortality as age increased. In contrast, the association between PA and reduced mortality remained consistent or showed modest increases with age, particularly in older adults.
"This study supports that physical activity needs to be treated as a concurrent health behavior that is as important as most other health factors across the lifespan, which includes older adults," said Jakici, of the Division of Physical Activity and Weight Management at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City.
Full disclosures can be found in the published study.