Atrial fibrillation (AF) confers higher risk of mortality and morbidity, but the long-term
impact of physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on outcomes in
AF patients is unknown. We, therefore, examined the prospective associations of PA
and estimated CRF (eCRF) with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality,
morbidity and stroke in individuals with AF.We followed 1117 AF patients from the
HUNT3 study in 2006-08 until first occurrence of the outcomes or end of follow-up
in November 2015. We used Cox proportional hazard regression to examine the prospective
associations of self-reported PA and eCRF with the outcomes. Atrial fibrillation patients
meeting PA guidelines had lower risk of all-cause [hazard ratio (HR) 0.55, 95% confidence
interval (CI) 0.41-0.75] and CVD mortality (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.34-0.86) compared with
inactive patients. The respective HRs for CVD morbidity and stroke were 0.78 (95%
CI 0.58-1.04) and 0.70 (95% CI 0.42-1.15). Each 1-metabolic equivalent task (MET)
higher eCRF was associated with a lower risk of all-cause (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.81-0.95),
CVD mortality (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.76-0.95), and morbidity (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82-0.95).Higher
PA and CRF are associated with lower long-term risk of CVD and all-cause mortality
in individuals with AF. The findings support a role for regular PA and improved CRF
in AF patients, in order to combat the elevated risk for mortality and morbidity.
