Impact of cardiovascular health status on the dose-response relationship between physical activity and incident morbidity and mortality

Abstract Background Although the health benefits of a physically active lifestyle are well-known, there is ongoing discussion about the dose-response relationship between physical activity (PA) and incident morbidity/mortality, and whether this association may be affected by cardiovascular health status. Purpose We compared the dose-response relationship of PA, incident major cardiovascular events (MACE) and all-cause mortality between healthy individuals and individuals with cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVRF) or cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Methods This study used data from Lifelines, which is a multi-disciplinary population-based cohort including 167,729 participants from the northern population of the Netherlands. Adults (>18 yrs old) without severe illnesses or limited life expectancy (