| 1. |
- Ahl, Matilda, et al.
(författare)
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Physical Activity Reduces Epilepsy Incidence : a Retrospective Cohort Study in Swedish Cross-Country Skiers and an Experimental Study in Seizure-Prone Synapsin II Knockout Mice
- 2019
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Ingår i: Sports medicine - open. - : Springer. - 2199-1170 .- 2198-9761. ; 5:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Epilepsy patients commonly exercise less than the general population. Animal studies indicate beneficial effects of physical activity in established epilepsy, while its effect on the development is currently less known.METHODS: Here, we investigated the incidence of epilepsy during 20 years in a cohort of participants from the long-distance Swedish cross-country ski race Vasaloppet (n = 197,685) and compared it to the incidence of non-participating-matched controls included in the Swedish population register (n = 197,684). Individuals diagnosed with diseases such as stroke and epilepsy before entering the race were excluded from both groups. Experimentally, we also determined how physical activity could affect the development of epilepsy in epilepsy-prone synapsin II knockout mice (SynIIKO), with and without free access to a running wheel.RESULTS: We identified up to 40-50% lower incidence of epilepsy in the Vasaloppet participants of all ages before retirement. A lower incidence of epilepsy in Vasaloppet participants was seen regardless of gender, education and occupation level compared to controls. The participants included both elite and recreational skiers, and in a previous survey, they have reported a higher exercise rate than the general Swedish population. Sub-analyses revealed a significantly lower incidence of epilepsy in participants with a faster compared to slower finishing time. Dividing participants according to specified epilepsy diagnoses revealed 40-50% decrease in focal and unspecified epilepsy, respectively, but no differences in generalized epilepsy. Voluntary exercise in seizure-prone SynIIKO mice for 1 month before predicted epilepsy development decreased seizure manifestation from > 70 to 40%. Brain tissue analyses following 1 month of exercise showed increased hippocampal neurogenesis (DCX-positive cells), while microglial (Iba1) and astrocytic activation (GFAP), neuronal Map2, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor tyrosine receptor kinase B intensity were unaltered. Continued exercise for additionally 2 months after predicted seizure onset in SynIIKO mice resulted in a 5-fold reduction in seizure manifestation (from 90 to 20%), while 2 months of exercise initiated at the time of predicted seizure development gave no seizure relief, suggesting exercise-induced anti-epileptogenic rather than anti-convulsive effect.CONCLUSION: The clinical study and the experimental findings in mice indicate that physical activity may prevent or delay the development of epilepsy.
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| 2. |
- Andersen, Kasper, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Long-Distance Skiing and Incidence of Hypertension : A Cohort Study of 206,889 Participants in a Long-Distance Cross-Country Skiing Event
- 2020
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Ingår i: Circulation. - : American Heart Association. - 0009-7322 .- 1524-4539. ; 141:9, s. 743-750
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 3. |
- Axfors, Cathrine, et al.
(författare)
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Pre-pregnancy participation and performance in world's largest cross-country ski race as a proxy for physical exercise and fitness, and perinatal outcomes : Prospective registry-based cohort study
- 2023
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Ingår i: British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1470-0328 .- 1471-0528. ; 130:8, s. 891-901
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: Investigate associations between pre-pregnancy participation and performance in a demanding cross-country ski race (proxy for exercise volume and fitness) and perinatal outcomes. Pre-registered protocol: osf.io/aywg2.Design: Prospective cohort study.Setting: Based on entire overlap between the Vasaloppet registry and the population-based Swedish Pregnancy Register.Sample: All female Vasaloppet participants 1991-2017 with subsequent singleton delivery (skiers), and age- and county-matched non-skiers.Methods: We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for non-skiers versus skiers (model 1) and, among skiers, by performance (model 2), in Bayesian logistic regressions adjusted for socio-demographics, lifestyle factors, and comorbidities. We repeated calculations adjusting for early pregnancy body mass index (potential mediator) and explored robustness (selection/exposure settings; multiple comparisons correction).Main outcome measures: Twenty-nine important perinatal outcomes, predefined based on existing expert consensus.Results: Non-skiers (n = 194 384) versus skiers (n = 15 377) (and slower versus faster performance, not shown) consistently had higher odds of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (OR 1.70, 95% highest density interval: 1.40-2.09), excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) (1.28, 1.22-1.38), psychiatric morbidity (1.60, 1.49-1.72), any caesarean section (CS) (1.34, 1.28-1.40), elective CS (1.39, 1.29-1.49), and large-for-gestational-age babies (> 90th percentile, 1.11, 1.04-1.18); lower odds of inadequate GWG (0.83, 0.79-0.88); and no associations with fetal/neonatal complications (e.g. preterm birth [1.09, 0.98-1.20], small for gestational age [SGA] [1.23, 1.05-1.45]). Adjustment for body mass index attenuated associations with excessive (1.20, 1.14-1.30) and inadequate GWG (0.87, 0.83-0.92) and large for gestational age (1.07, 1.00-1.13).Conclusion: Non-skiers compared with skiers, and slower versus faster performance, consistently displayed higher odds of GDM, excessive GWG, psychiatric morbidity, CS and large-for-gestational-age babies; and lower odds of inadequate GWG, after adjustment for socio-demographic and lifestyle factors and comorbidities. There were no associations with fetal/neonatal complications.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Hansson, Oskar, et al.
(författare)
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Midlife physical activity is associated with lower incidence of vascular dementia but not Alzheimer's disease
- 2019
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Ingår i: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. - : BMC. - 1758-9193. ; 11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Physical activity might reduce the risk of developing dementia. However, it is still unclear whether the protective effect differs depending on the subtype of dementia. We aimed to investigate if midlife physical activity affects the development of vascular dementia (VaD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) differently in two large study populations with different designs.Methods: Using a prospective observational design, we studied whether long-distance skiers of the Swedish Vasaloppet (n = 197,685) exhibited reduced incidence of VaD or AD compared to matched individuals from the general population (n = 197,684) during 21 years of follow-up (median 10, interquartile range (IQR) 5-15 years). Next, we studied the association between self-reported physical activity, stated twice 5 years apart, and incident VaD and AD in 20,639 participants in the Swedish population-based Malmo Diet and Cancer Study during 18 years of follow-up (median 15, IQR 14-17 years). Finally, we used a mouse model of AD and studied brain levels of amyloid-beta, synaptic proteins, and cognitive function following 6 months of voluntary wheel running.Results Vasaloppet skiers (median age 36.0 years [IQR 29.0-46.0], 38% women) had lower incidence of all-cause dementia (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.63, 95% CI 0.52-0.75) and VaD (adjusted HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.33-0.73), but not AD, compared to non-skiers. Further, faster skiers exhibited a reduced incidence of VaD (adjusted HR 0.38, 95% CI 0.16-0.95), but not AD or all-cause dementia compared to slower skiers. In the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study (median age 57.5 years [IQR 51.0-63.8], 60% women), higher physical activity was associated with reduced incidence of VaD (adjusted HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.49-0.87), but not AD nor all-cause dementia. These findings were also independent of APOE-epsilon 4 genotype. In AD mice, voluntary running did not improve memory, amyloid-beta, or synaptic proteins.Conclusions: Our results indicate that physical activity in midlife is associated with lower incidence of VaD. Using three different study designs, we found no significant association between physical activity and subsequent development of AD.
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| 6. |
- Hållmarker, Ulf, 1946-
(författare)
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Epidemiological Studies on Long Distance Cross-Country Skiers : Participants in the Vasaloppet 1955-2010
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis was to study the influence of physical activity on health. Risks and benefits of physical activity is of particular interest since there is a global trend of less physical activity among youths and adults.In order to investigate this aim we used a database from a large cross country ski race, Vasaloppet, with participants with a wide age range, and with both elite athletes and ordinary people who exercise and promote their health. The most serious risk of strenuous exercise is sudden death and it is challenging to identify preventive effects of major endemic diseases.Using epidemiological methodology we studied 200 000 Vasaloppet skiers and compared them with the general population. Based on personal identification numbers we added data from Swedish national personal and health registers, clinical registers as the cancer register, Swedeheart, or Swedish stroke register, and socioeconomic information from Statistics Sweden. In the Vasaloppet database we collected data on age, gender, finish time and number of races during the period 1989 to 2010.We evaluated risk of death during the race in two papers (I,II). During 90 years of annual races, cardiac arrest occurred in 20 skiers, of which five survived. The death rate is in average two per 100 000 skiers.We also studied the association with cancer incidence (paper III). The overall reduction of cancer was modest among skiers compared with the general population, but for cancers related to lifestyle the risks were markedly lower.We investigated the risk for recurrent myocardial infarction and found a 30% reduction among skiers (paper IV). In paper V we showed that skiers with a first stroke have a lower incidence of all-cause death. The skiers had a higher frequency of atrial fibrillation but had less severe stroke and no increased risk of recurrent stroke. Thus our data suggest that a lifestyle with a high level of physical activity may work as a protection after a cardiovascular event.Summary: The short excess mortality in endurance physical activity is by far outweighed by the long term protective effect of exercise in cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
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| 7. |
- Hållmarker, Ulf, 1946-, et al.
(författare)
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Risk of recurrent ischaemic events after myocardial infarction in long-distance ski race participants
- 2016
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Ingår i: European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2047-4873 .- 2047-4881. ; 23:3, s. 282-290
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: To study whether a high level of physical activity prior to myocardial infarction (MI) also protects against recurrent MI (re-MI) or death.Methods and Results: A longitudinal study of a primary cohort consisting of 204,038 skiers with a proved substantially high level of physical activity in the world's largest long-distance ski race, Vasaloppet, and 499,543 non-skiers selected from the Swedish population. Individuals with severe diseases at baseline were excluded. In the nationwide clinical register, Swedeheart, we identified 7092 individuals with a first MI incident between 1989 and 2010. Of these, 1039 (0.5%) were skiers and 6053 (1.2%) were non-skiers. One hundred and sixty-three (15.7%) skiers and 1352 (22.3%) non-skiers suffered a re-MI or died during follow-up (median 4.44 years), corresponding to an incidence rate of 38.9 (95% confidence interval (CI) 33.2-45.4)/1000 person-years and 55.6 (95% CI 52.7-58.7)/1000 person-years, respectively. Severity of MI in both groups was the same. For skiers compared to non-skiers the unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for re-MI was 0.66 (95% CI 0.52-0.82). For death or re-MI, HR was 0.70 (95% CI 0.59-0.82) with consistent results in subgroups based on race year, age, gender, education level, marital status. After adjustment for also smoking, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular medication, HR was 0.80 (95% CI 0.67-0.97).Conclusions: This large cohort study supports the hypothesis that patients with MI and with prior physical activity and healthy lifestyle, as evidenced by their participation in a long-distance ski race, have a lower risk of subsequent re-MI or death.
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| 8. |
- Hållmarker, Ulf, 1946-, et al.
(författare)
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Risk of recurrent stroke and death after first stroke in long-distance ski race participants
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of the American Heart Association. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 2047-9980. ; 4:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Physical activity is of benefit for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, but it appears to increase the risk for atrial fibrillation. We aimed to study a cohort of patients following a first stroke in individuals with previous high physical activity, compare them to the general population with respect to recurrent stroke and death, and relate these to atrial fibrillation.Methods and results: From the participants of the Vasaloppet, the world's largest ski-race, and matched individuals from the general population (n=708 604), we identified 5964 patients hospitalized with a first-time stroke between 1994 and 2010. Individuals with severe diseases were excluded. One half percent of skiers and 1% of nonskiers were hospitalized due to stroke. The incidence rate was 8.3 per 100 person-years among skiers and 11.1 among nonskiers. The hazard ratio (HR) for recurrent stroke or death between the 2 groups was 0.76 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.86). The result was consistent in subgroups. The HR for death was 0.66 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.78) and for recurrent stroke 0.82 (95% CI 0.70 to 0.96). After adjustment for smoking and socioeconomic factors, the HR for death was consistent at 0.70 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.87) while the HR for recurrent stroke was not statistically significant. Outcomes for skiers with atrial fibrillation tended to show a lower risk than for nonskiers.Conclusions: This large cohort study supports the hypothesis that patients with a stroke and with prior regular physical activity have a lower risk of death, while their risk for recurrent stroke is similar to that of nonskiers. The skiers had a higher incidence of atrial fibrillation, but still no increased risk of recurring stroke.
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| 9. |
- Hållmarker, Ulf, 1946-, et al.
(författare)
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Survival and incidence of cardiovascular diseases in participants in a long-distance ski race (Vasaloppet, Sweden) compared to the background population
- 2018
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Ingår i: European Heart Journal - Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2058-5225 .- 2058-1742. ; 4:2, s. 91-97
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AimsWe studied the relationship between taking part in a long-distance ski race and incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) to address the hypothesis that lifestyle lowers the incidence.Methods and resultsA cohort of 399 630 subjects in Sweden, half were skiers in the world’s largest ski race, and half were non-skiers. Non-skiers were frequency matched for sex, age, and year of race. Individuals with severe diseases were excluded. The endpoints were death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. The subjects were followed up for a maximum of 21.8 years and median of 9.8 years. We identified 9399 death, myocardial infarction, or stroke events among non-skiers and 4784 among the Vasaloppet skiers. The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) comparing skiers and non-skiers were 0.52 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.49–0.54] for all-cause mortality, 0.56 (95% CI 0.52–0.60) for myocardial infarction and 0.63 (95% CI 0.58–0.67) for stroke and for all three outcomes 0.56 (95% CI 0.54–0.58). The results were consistent across subgroups: age, sex, family status, education, and race year. For skiers, a doubling of race time was associated with a higher age-adjusted risk of 19%, and male skiers had a doubled risk than female skiers, with a HR 2.06 (95% CI 1.89–2.41). The outcome analyses revealed no differences in risk of atrial fibrillation between skiers and non-skiers.ConclusionThis large cohort study provides additional support for the hypothesis that individuals with high level of physical activity representing a healthy lifestyle, as evident by their participation in a long-distance ski race, have a lower risk of CVD or death.
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| 10. |
- Olsson, Tomas T., et al.
(författare)
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Delayed Clinical Manifestation of Parkinson's Disease Among Physically Active : Do Participants in a Long-Distance Ski Race Have a Motor Reserve?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Parkinson's Disease. - : IOS Press. - 1877-7171 .- 1877-718X. ; 10:1, s. 267-274
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Physical activity is associated with reduced risk of Parkinson's disease (PD). The explanations for this association are not completely elucidated. We use long-term PD-incidence data from long-distance skiers to study the relationship between exercise and PD.OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate if physical activity is associated with long-term lower risk of PD and if this association could be explained by physically active people being able to sustain more PD neuropathology before clinical symptoms, a motor reserve.METHODS: Using a prospective observational design, we studied whether long-distance skiers of the Swedish Vasaloppet (n = 197,685), exhibited reduced incidence of PD compared to matched individuals from the general population (n = 197,684) during 21 years of follow-up (median 10, interquartile range (IQR) 5-15 years).RESULTS: Vasaloppet skiers (median age 36.0 years [IQR 29.0-46.0], 38% women) had lower incidence of PD (HR: 0.71; 95 % CI 0.56-0.90) compared to non-skiers. When reducing risk for reverse causation by excluding PD cases within the first five years from race participation, there was still a trend for lower risk of PD (HR: 0.80; 95 % CI 0.62-1.03). Further, the PD prevalence converged between skiers and non-skiers after 15 years of follow-up, which is more consistent with a motor reserve in the physically active rather than neuroprotection.CONCLUSIONS: A physical active lifestyle is associated with reduced risk for PD. This association weakens with time and might be explained by a motor reserve among the physically active.
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