A comprehensive study using data from the China Kadoorie Biobank study (CKB) and led by researchers from Oxford Population Health and Peking University has revealed a strong link between physical activity and reduced risks of a wide range of health conditions.
Published in The Innovation, the research demonstrates that staying active can significantly lower the risks of developing 65 diseases and dying from 19 specific causes. The findings highlight the critical health consequences of physical inactivity and underscore the urgent need for public health policies promoting movement in China and globally.
CKB is a large prospective cohort study of 500,000 adults recruited in ten diverse areas across China from 2004 to 2008. Participants’ physical activity levels were assessed using a validated questionnaire, and their health and vital status were tracked for over 12 years via linkage to electronic health records. This study examined the relationship between physical activity and 425 distinct health conditions, as well as 53 causes of death.
Key findings
- In many Western countries, leisure-time exercise accounts for a large proportion of daily movement. In China, physical activity comes primarily from occupational activities or household chores.
- Adults in the highest quintile of physical activity levels had a 14% lower risk of developing any disease compared to the least active group. Higher physical activity levels were linked to a lower risk of 65 individual diseases, 54 of which were not explicitly covered in World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
- A higher level of physical activity was linked to a 40% lower risk of death from any cause and 20-74% lower risk of death from 19 specific causes.
- The health benefits of physical activities extended beyond specific domains (both occupational and non-occupational physical activity) and intensities (light and moderate-to-severe activities).
- Most activity types showed an “L-shaped” relationship with disease outcomes, indicating that health benefits would not increase further at a certain level of physical activity. It also suggests that people with very low levels of physical activity would see more benefits from a slight increase in activity levels.
- If all Chinese adults can meet the recommended physical activity level, 12.8% of physical inactivity-related deaths and 10.5% of total deaths could be avoided.
‘This study provides the most extensive evidence to date, demonstrating that physical activity, regardless of the type or intensity, could be a universal prescription for better health,’ stated Professor Canqing Yu, the corresponding author of the study and an epidemiologist specialising in non-communicable diseases at Peking University.
‘Improving physical activity level does not require dramatic changes of daily life. Routine activities, such as walking or cycling to work, household chores like sweeping, or opting for stairs over elevators, can all contribute to improved wellbeing.’
Dr Huaidong Du, Associate Professor at Oxford Population Health and the joint senior corresponding author of the study, added ‘These findings support the integration of physical activity promotion in public health policies to mitigate the growing chronic disease burden in China and globally. Future studies with objectively measured physical activity data (using wearable devices) in CKB will help determine the optimal levels of different movement behaviours.’