Older US adults who exercised prepandemic at lower risk of COVID infection, hospitalization

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

 

US adults aged 45 and older who were physically active before the pandemic were 10% less likely to contract COVID-19 and 27% less likely to be hospitalized if they were infected, a Brigham and Women's Hospital–led study suggests.

 

The observational study, published today in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data on 61,557 adults with an average age of 76 years who are participants in three ongoing randomized clinical trials (Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study, Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial, and Women's Health Study).

...

After controlling for demographics, BMI, lifestyle factors, underlying illnesses, and medications, compared with inactive individuals, those who were insufficiently active had no significant reduction in infection (odds ratio [OR], 0.96) or hospitalization (OR, 0.98), while those sufficiently active had a significant reduction in infection (OR, 0.90) and hospitalization (OR, 0.73).

 

(more)

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/study-older-us-adults-who-exercised-prepandemic-lower-risk-covid-infection-hospitalization

 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2814993

 

 

 

"Some of the study’s limitations include that it is observational, uses self-reported data, and cannot account for health behavior changes that may have occurred during the pandemic. Further studies are needed to generalize these findings to different groups of people.

 

The research team plans to further investigate the association between physical activity leading into the COVID-19 pandemic and other aspects of health and well-being such as depression and social connectedness."

 

https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/press-releases-detail?id=4651

 

 

[stoner]

who would of thought that a healthy lifestyle promoted....strong health 

[johng]

28 minutes ago, stoner said:

who would of thought that a healthy lifestyle promoted....strong health 

Exactly!   now run along and get booster #18 which comes with a free burger,large fries and a milkshake...brought to you by Pfizer.

😝

[bkk6060]

How many millions were spent on another meaningless study?

So, older people out of shape are prone to sickness and ill health. Wow, who would have thought?

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, johng said:

Exactly!   now run along and get booster #18 which comes with a free burger,large fries and a milkshake...brought to you by Pfizer.

😝

 

It's all about reducing people's risk of bad outcomes from COVID from various means..... The study says sufficient physical activity reduced older people's risks of infection and hospitalization from COVID, compared to the inactive cohort.

 

As did getting vaccinated starting in 2021 when COVID vaccines became widely available, regardless of pre-pandemic physical activity levels, according to the study:

 

"SARS-CoV-2 vaccination was associated with substantially decreased odds of infection (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.50-0.61; P < .001) and hospitalization (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.30-0.47; P < .001) for all PA levels assessed before the COVID-19 pandemic."

 

The odds ratio references cited above translate into layman's terms meaning vaccination drove a 45% reduced risk of COVID infection and a 63% reduced risk of COVID hospitalization, based on the older populations assessed in this study through May 2022.

 

Which were larger risk reductions than those found from sufficient physical activity alone:

 

"US adults aged 45 and older who were physically active before the pandemic were 10% less likely to contract COVID-19 and 27% less likely to be hospitalized if they were infected, a Brigham and Women's Hospital–led study suggests."

 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2814993

 

[thaicurious]

It's probably easier to be cynical, to belittle or merely make jest about a study that found what you might have suspected, but what if it hadn't? Thus the study to understand as well as possible. This reminds me of unforeseen consequences, the dangers of not knowing all we can, not often by skeptical me, but apparently by plenty of others, of, say, taking an arthritis med which can harm the immune system that, being sexually active, I decided to not take. Then very early in the pandemic, listening to NPR, sure enough there was discussion by elders fearful that they'd been taking these meds to protect them from some ravages of arthritis but now might put them at risk for COVID's ravages. And even that complicated because to remove yourself from the meds could screw with your immune system even more and who wants that mid-pandemic? So, yeah, we need the studies to know what can be known, even if just to rule out issues so as to concentrate on more pressing aspects.

 

Also what the study speaks to is resilience & reserve capacity* which is so very important to aging well. Even though I was naturally pretty active as a kid, a daily lap swimmer for most of life, etc., I think what reinforced my convictions to health--besides that I enjoyed it--was not just lucking into the repetition of being raised by health conscious parents (mom was doing daily protein shakes when I was in high school, so very early in that) but even watching my grandparents age. I could often see my athletic grandpa alongside his couch potato friends and I could tell myself I want to be that, not that, such that into my 60s I've still the arteries of a 39 year old while so many of my cohorts are with stents and TAVRs and heart attacks and strokes and yikes. So I appreciate the studies even when they don't surprise me.

 

*https://medicine.jrank.org/pages/997/Life-Span-Development-Plasticity-reserve-capacity-resiliency.html#ixzz8SjGPDDmG

Individuals also exhibit varying capacities to protect themselves from impairment and insult associated with aging and disease, and to adapt effectively to the demands of stressful situations. The term reserve capacity refers to the individual's resources for responding effectively to challenging conditions. The term resiliency is similar in its meaning, and refers to a capacity for successful adaptation and recovery in response to stressful life events. (bolding mine)

[Gaccha]

One of the many remarkable and stupid things during the Covid crisis was the total failure of the governments to tell us to stay fit and strong. 

 

Not only was it extremely obvious to the attentive during the Covid pandemic that the healthy were the least likely to suffer, but the mass panic actually caused many people to give up exercise out of anxiety of the pandemic. I can recall seeing a newspaper headline stating some remarkable percentage of British women simply quit exercise.

 

If you looked at the infamous categories of risk, almost all were related to failures to look after their bodies. One factor held in common by most of the risk categories was being overweight. Only the risk factors of pregnancy and old age were truly out of the patients' control.

 

To make matters worse the governments actually introduced restrictions on visiting parks or going outside, making it very difficult to exercise.

 

It really was stupidity built upon stupidity. Government policy controlled by public anxiety and paranoia is never the best way to govern. I hope they have all learnt from it. 

[johng]

On 2/25/2024 at 10:16 PM, Gaccha said:

I hope they have all learnt from it. 

Unfortunately it seems they have not learnt anything at all,those who implemented them suggest the reason the measures didn't work is because they where implemented to late and too laxly   ie the next time they want full on China style welding people in their homes, quarantine camps as seen in Thailand and Australia  total surveillance and control a dystopian nightmare for most but the

"Covidain authoritarians"  best wet dream.