Copenhagen City Heart Study
Regular jogging can add upto 6 years to a male and 5.6 years to a female's life expectancy, the latest data from the Copenhagen City Heart Study (CCHS) says. Peter Schnohr, who is the chief cardiologist of the CCHS says that according to recent analysis, regular jogging for 1 to 2 and a half years, at 'slow or average' pace adds to the longevity of life."We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity. The good news is that you don't have to do that much to reap the benefits", he says.
"After a few men died while out on run, various newspapers suggested that jogging might be too strenuous for ordinary middle-aged people", Schnohr says, when middle-aged men of the 70s initially took an interest in regular jogging.
The study (CCHS) was first started in 1976, conducted on a population of 20,000 including both men and women in the age range of 20 to 93. The study, since its inception, published more than 750 papers and has also expanded to include other diseases such as heart failure, pulmonary diseases, allergy, epilepsy, dementia, sleep apnea and more recently, genetics.
Sub Study - Comparisons between Regular Joggers and Non-Regulars
The mortality of 1,116 male regular joggers and 762 female regular joggers was compared to the 20,000 non joggers i.e. the population in the main study. All participants were asked to answer questions about the amount of time they spent on regular jogging i.e. time spent for jogging every week. Questions were also asked regarding their pace of jogging; slow, average or fast.
Data Collection
- First Data was collected between 1976 to 1978.
- The second from 1981 to 1983.
- Third from 1991 to 1994; and
- The fourth from 2001 to 2003.
Results and Analysis of Regular Joggers and Non-Regulars
Results show that during the follow-up period involving a maximum of 35 years (1976-2011), 10,158 deaths were registered among non-regular joggers and a mere 122 deaths among regular joggers.Analysis showed that risk of death was reduced by 44% for both male and female regular joggers. The data also suggested than regular jogging produced an age adjusted survival benefit of 6.2 years and 5.6 years in men and women respectively.
