Relationship between leisure-time physical activity and risk factors for coronary heart disease in middle-aged Finnish women.

Risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) and levels of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) were measured in a random sample of 4,059 women aged 25-64 years, residing in four areas of Finland. LTPA indexed as the product of weekly exercise sessions X their usual intensity showed an inverse association with smoking (p = 0.02) and with CHD risk estimate which combines the three main risk factors, smoking, serum cholesterol and blood pressure (p = 0.06), and a positive association with HDL cholesterol (p = 0.002). It was not associated with mean arterial pressure and serum total cholesterol. In a multiple regression analysis LTPA contributed independently, though modestly, to the model for CHD risk estimate. Age and body mass index were the most important independent predictors of both mean arterial pressure and CHD risk estimate. It is concluded that in middle-aged Finnish women, unlike men of the same population, high LTPA is only weakly related to lower CHD risk factor levels.