Abstract Body: Background: "Weekend warrior" and regularly active physical activity patterns have been associated with reduced mortality risk in the general population. The association in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is unknown.
Objective: To examine the associations of different physical activity patterns, particularly weekend warrior and regularly active behavior, with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality among adults with CVDs.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: National Health Interview Survey (1997 to 2018) linked to the National Death Index records through 31 December 2019.
Participants: 82,031 U.S. adults with self-reported CVDs.
Measurements: Participants categorized by 4 physical activity groups: inactive (reporting no moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA]), insufficiently active (MVPA <150 minutes per week), weekend warrior (MVPA ≥150 minutes per week in 1 to 2 sessions), and regularly active (MVPA ≥150 minutes per week in ≥3 sessions).
Results: During a median follow-up of 10.75 years, 29,273 deaths (CVDs, 11,670; cancers, 5,114) were documented. Compared with inactive participants (n=39,484), multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality were significantly lower across physical activity groups: insufficiently active persons (n=15,220; HR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.79 to 0.85]), weekend warriors (n=1,524; HR, 0.72 [CI, 0.64 to 0.80]), and regularly active persons (n=25,803; HR, 0.83 [CI, 0.78 to 0.70]). These reductions were mostly due to benefits with cardiovascular mortality: insufficiently active persons (HR, 0.81 [CI, 0.77 to 0.87]), weekend warriors (HR, 0.67 [CI, 0.55 to 0.81]), and regularly active persons (HR, 0.64 [CI, 0.60 to 0.68]). There were fewer differences by cancer mortality: insufficiently active persons (HR, 0.87 [CI, 0.79 to 0.96]), weekend warriors (HR, 0.80 [CI, 0.62 to 1.02]), and regularly active persons (HR, 0.84 [CI, 0.77 to 0.91]).
Limitation: Physical activity was self-reported and assessed at a single time point.
Conclusion: Weekend warrior and regularly active physical activity patterns meeting current physical activity recommendations (MVPA ≥150 minutes per week) were associated with 28% and 33% lower risks for all-cause mortality and 33% and 36% lower hazards of cardiovascular mortality among adults with CVDs compared with those with CVDs who are physically inactive.