Moderate physical activity in sedentary older adults reduces the progression of injury to the heart, submits Christopher DeFilippi from the University of Maryland Medical Center (Maryland, USA), and colleagues. In a pilot study, 310 adults 70 years and older with a previously sedentary lifestyle, were randomly assigned to one-year supervised physical activity or to health education controls. The researchers measured troponin T, a blood-based injury marker which historically has been used for the diagnosis of heart attack was measured with a new high sensitive cardiac assay (hs cTnT). The team observed that troponin T levels, measured at baseline and at one year, had more than a three times increase in the control population than in the exercise group. The lead author posits that: “Our findings suggest biochemical evidence to support the old adage, ‘You’re never too old to start a physical activity program to improve cardiac health.'”
