A 29-year study published recently in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology suggests that high physical fitness reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease in men with high blood pressure. This is the first study to assess the combined effect of physical fitness and blood pressure on the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The findings suggest that fitness can help combat some of the negative effects of high blood pressure.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes, and is one of the leading causes of premature death worldwide. According to statistics, nearly 1.3 billion adults worldwide between the ages of 30 and 79 have high blood pressure.

Previous studies have shown that strong cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with longevity. And this newly published study examined the interaction between blood pressure, physical fitness and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

The study found that when looking at the effect of blood pressure alone, high blood pressure was associated with a 39% increased risk of cardiovascular death. When considering the effect of physical fitness alone, low physical fitness was associated with a 74% increased risk of cardiovascular death. Men with high blood pressure but low physical fitness had more than double the risk of cardiovascular death compared to men with normal blood pressure and high physical fitness; men with high physical fitness but also high blood pressure had a persistent but weaker trend of increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease - the risk of death was 55% higher than those with normal blood pressure and high physical fitness.

The study suggests that part of the reason that cardiorespiratory fitness does not completely eliminate the risk of cardiovascular death in people with hypertension may be that there is a strong, independent cause-and-effect relationship between blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. For people with hypertension, controlling blood pressure should be accompanied by regular physical activity to improve physical fitness.

Guidelines published by the European Society of Cardiology also recommend that adults of all ages engage in at least 150 minutes to 300 minutes of moderate intensity, or 75 minutes to 150 minutes of vigorous aerobic physical activity per week to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular disease mortality.