A new study from Norway found reduced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) risk for physically active men, but not for similarly active women.
The research — Physical Activity, Fitness, and Long-Term Risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Prospective Cohort Study — will be published in the July 23 issue of Neurology.
The study’s abstract noted that observational studies “have demonstrated an increased ALS risk among professional athletes in various sports,” and “diverging” risk results for people who have participated in “moderately increased levels of physical activity and fitness.”
In this cohort study, researchers assessed “the relationship between indicators of physical activity and fitness (self-reported physical activity and resting heart rate) and long-term ALS risk.”
Researchers took information from a “large Norwegian cardiovascular health survey, 1985-1999.” Survey participants self reported their physical activity during leisure times, their resting heart rates, and other cardiovascular risk factors.
ALS patients were identified “through health registries covering the whole population,” the study said. Patients identified themselves as belonging to one of three categories: sedentary; minimum of four hours per week of walking or cycling; or minimum of four hours per week of recreational sports or hard training.
More than 373,000 patients were studied.
“Men with resting heart rate in the lowest quartile had 32% reduced risk of ALS compared with those in the second highest quartile,” the study said. “In women, no association was detected between neither self-reported levels of physical activity nor resting heart rate and ALS risk.
“Indicators of high levels of physical activity and fitness are associated with a reduced risk of ALS more than 30 years later in men, but not in women.”
“Our findings show that, for men, not only do moderate to high levels of physical activity and fitness not increase the risk of ALS, but that it may be protective against the disease,” said lead author Anders Myhre Vaage, M.D., Akershus University Hospital, Norway, in an ALS News Today report. “Future studies of the connection between ALS and exercise are needed to consider sex differences and higher or professional athlete physical activity levels.”
