PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AS PREDICTOR OF TREATED HYPERTENSION IN MIDDLE-AGED POPULATIONS IN EASTERN FINLAND

PURPOSE Studies reporting the association between only leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and the risk of treated hypertension considering occupational physical activity (OPA) or commuting activity (CA) are rare. The purpose of our study was to show whether LTPA, OPA and CA independently increase the risk of treated hypertension among large population samples. METHODS Three independent cross-sectional surveys were carried out among middle-aged populations within the framework of the FINRISK studies in 1982, 1987 and 1992. The data was complemented by linking the records from the Social Insurance Institution's register on persons receiving free-of-charge medication for hypertension. Subjects who received free-of-charge treatment for hypertension or who reported on the questionnaire at baseline that they have hypertension were excluded from the analyses. Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), occupational physical activity (OPA) and commuting activity (CA) were determined by a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS Men with high LTPA had a reduced risk of hypertension even when adjusted for BMI (hazard ratio(HR) = 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.62–0.97). Women with high LTPA had a reduced risk of treated hypertension when adjusted for age, area and time of survey, education, smoking, alcohol intake as well as CA and OPA (HR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.46–0.92). This association was no longer significant when further adjusted for BMI (HR = 0.73; 95% CI 0.52–1.04). Men with high OPA had a lower relative risk of hypertension than those with low OPA (HR = 0.84; 95% CI 0.70–1.00). CONCLUSION High LTPA seem to reduce the risk of treated hypertension among men and women compared to people with moderate or low LTPA even when adjusted for most common risk factors, OPA and CA. OPA may have some beneficiary effect among men. CA was not found to be a predictor of treated hypertension in our populations.