Stroke Risk Mitigated by Low Levels of Exercise: Daily Dose

Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

Last week, we reported on findings from a systematic review published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

The study

Investigators searched PubMed and Scopus from inception to April 22, 2023, for prospective cohort studies that investigated the relationship between predefined leisure physical activity (LTPA) levels, compared with inactivity, and the risk of stroke of any type in healthy adult populations.

A total of 15 studies met inclusion criteria for the analysis and included 752 050 adults monitored over a median of 10.5 years.

The findings

LTPA even at levels below those currently recommended was associated with a reduction in risk of stroke between 18% and 29% when compared with no activity at all. These findings were independent of participant age and sex, factors with the potential to modify effects of the intervention.

Authors' comment

"According to our results, all levels of LTPA can be beneficial for stroke prevention, including levels currently regarded as low or insufficient. People should be encouraged to be physically active even at the lowest levels."

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