Long-Distance Skiing and Incidence of Hypertension : A Cohort Study of 206,889 Participants in a Long-Distance Cross-Country Skiing Event

• Background: Hypertension is the leading risk factor for death worldwide and high levels of physical activity is associated with lower incidence of hypertension. The associations of excessive levels of exercise and incidence of hypertension is less known. We aim to compare the incidence of hypertension among 206,889 participants in a long-distance cross-country skiing event and 505,542 persons randomly sampled from the general population (matched to the skiers on age sex and place of residence). Methods: Skiers best performance (in per cent of winning time) and number of completed races during the study period were associated to incidence of hypertension after participation in Vasaloppet. Hypertension was defined as prescription of blood pressure-lowering drugs as obtained from the national drug registry. Models were adjusted for sex, age, education and income (total effect). Results: During a median time-of-risk of 8.3 years skiers had lower incidence of hypertension compared to non-skiers (HR 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58-0.60). Among the skiers, better performance (in % of winning time) in Vasaloppet was strongly associated with lower incidence of hypertension (Fastest fifth: HR 0.41; 95% CI 0.39-0.42. Slowest fifth: 0.78 CI 0.75-0.81). The association was near linear and did not differ between sexes. Among the skiers, a weaker association of number of completed races during the study period with incidence of hypertension (1 race: HR 0.63; 95% CI 0.62-0.65.>5 races: HR 0.51; 95% CI 0.50-0.53). A sub-analysis of 10,804 participants including adjustment for lifestyle factors showed similar results. Conclusions: Participation in a long-distance skiing event was associated with 41% lower incidence of hypertension over the next 8 years, compared to non-participation; and the better the performance, the lower the incidence of hypertension. This adds to the list of beneficial effects of intensive training, as hypertension is the leading risk factor of premature death globally.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Kardiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Cross-country skiing

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