The interplay between physical activity at work and during leisure time - Risk of ischemic heart disease and all-cause mortality in middle-aged Caucasian men

Objective: Our aim was to test the hypothesis that a high level of physical activity during leisure time increases the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality among men with high physical work demands. Methods: We carried out a 30-year follow-up of the Copenhagen Male Study of 5249 caucasian, male workers aged 40-59 years; 274 men with overt cardiovascular disease were excluded from the follow-up. Results: During the follow-up period, 591 men (11.9%) died from IHD. Cox analyses of men with low (N=1236), medium (N=2651), and high (N=858) physical work demands showed that those with high demands had a higher risk of IHD mortality compared to men with low demands [age-adjusted hazard ratio 1.51, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.18-1.94]. In all three groups, men with a low level of physical activity during leisure time had a higher risk of IHD than men with a medium or high level. Overall, the age-adjusted hazard ratio for IHD mortality associated with a high level of leisure time physical activity was 0.49 (95% CI 0.34-0.70). Among workers with high physical work demands, the hazard ratio for IHD mortality (adjusted for confounders) was 0.82 (95% CI 0.42-1.56) for a high level of leisure time physical activity and 0.62 (95% CI 0.40-0.97) for a moderate level. Conclusion: We did not find support for the hypothesis that a high level of physical activity during leisure time increases the risk of IHD mortality among men with high physical work demands and with no pre-existing clinical cardiovascular disease. In contrast, moderate and high levels of activity during leisure time seemed to be protective against IHD mortality among people with medium and high physical activity at work.