Exercise Intensity Not Linked to Mortality Risk in Older Adults, Finds Trial

A randomized controlled trial from Norway published in the British Medical Journal found exercise intensity appears to make no difference to mortality risk among older adults, reports Medical Xpress . The investigators assessed the effect of five years of supervised exercise training compared with recommendations for physical activity on mortality in adults 70 to 77 years old. The trial included 1,567 participants (790 women and 777 men), average age 73. A total of 87.5 percent of participants reported overall good health and 80 percent reported a medium or high level of physical activity at the outset. Four hundred participants were assigned to two weekly sessions of high intensity interval training (HIIT), 387 were assigned moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), and 780 controls followed the Norwegian guidelines for physical activity, all for five years. Overall mortality rate was 4.6 percent at the end of those five years, and the researchers observed no difference in all cause mortality between the controls and combined HIIT and MICT cohort. No differences in cardiovascular disease or cancer were noted between the control group and the combined HIIT and MICT group. "This study suggests that combined MICT and HIIT has no effect on all cause mortality compared with recommended physical activity levels," the researchers concluded.