Association of access to exercise opportunities and cardiovascular mortality.

We sought to examine the patterns of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in varying degrees of access to exercise opportunities at county level in the United States. Access to exercise opportunities was significantly associated with adjusted CVD mortality (P < .001); higher access to exercise opportunities correlated with lower CVD mortality. Counties with lower access to exercise facilities had higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes when compared with counties with higher access (P < .001). Furthermore, the states with fewer people living in close proximity to a park had higher percentage of people not engaging in any leisure physical activity (P < .001).