Men may have to exercise more than women to get same heart benefits

Men over 50 may have to exercise more than twice as much as women to reap the same heart health benefits. An analysis of activity tracker data found that men in this age group needed nearly 9 hours a week of moderate to vigorous activity – such as brisk walking or cycling – to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 30 percent, compared with about 4 hours for women.

Scientists already suspected that women get more heart benefits than men based on self-reported exercise, but such numbers aren't always accurate.

To overcome this problem, Jiajin Chen from Xiamen University in China and colleagues took data from wrist-worn activity trackers collected in the UK Biobank study and compared it with participants' medical records over a period of about eight years.

The team first analyzed information from 80,243 adults, average age 61, who had no personal history of coronary heart disease. Among women, those who performed at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week had a 22 percent reduced risk of coronary heart disease. For men, doing this much exercise resulted in a reduction in incidence of only 17 percent.

Achieving a 30 percent risk reduction required significantly more exercise—with a noticeable difference by gender: 250 minutes for women and 530 minutes for men.

The team then studied 5,169 participants who had already been diagnosed with coronary heart disease. Their average age was 67 years, and two-thirds of them were men. With 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week, women were 70 percent less likely to die over the next eight years or so (from any cause) than women who exercised less. In contrast, men who performed 150 minutes of moderate to intense exercise each week were only about 20 percent less likely to die than their less active counterparts.

“This isn't bad news for men, it's just something we should be aware of,” says Shooting Range at Monash University, Australia. “Once we know that, we can do better – we can exercise more. And while that's encouraging for women who are busy all the time, I also think women shouldn't lose sight of the fact that they need to exercise too.”

Chen and his colleagues were not available for comment, but in their paper they suggest that the discrepancy may be explained by hormones, since higher estrogen levels may promote fat burning during exercise. It may also be due to biological differences, which may mean women use more respiratory, metabolic and muscle power to perform the same physical tasks as men, Eynon says.

The study is “robust” and highlights the need Gender-specific guidelinesspeaks Ersilia DeFilippis at Columbia University, New York. However, the downside is that it primarily targets the affluent and educated population, about 93 percent of whom are white. Black women tend to have worse cardiovascular outcomes than white women, and social factors play a significant role in health and adherence to treatment plans, DeFilippis said.

“Understanding how these findings apply to more racially diverse and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations will be critical in the future given their higher burden of cardiovascular disease,” she says.

However, findings from this older population suggest that even exercising later in life can provide significant benefits – although activity should be tailored to people's age and physical abilities, she adds. “It’s never too late to start moving and be more active.”