Interplay between physical activity volume and intensity with modeled life expectancy in women and men: A prospective cohort analysis.

Background: There is a lack of research examining the interplay between objectively measured physical activity volume and intensity with life expectancy.

Methods: Individuals from UK Biobank with wrist-worn accelerometer data were included. The average acceleration and intensity gradient were extracted to describe the physical activity volume and intensity profile. Mortality data were obtained from national registries. Adjusted life expectancies were estimated using parametric flexible survival models.

Results: 40,953 (57.1%) women (median age = 61.9 years) and 30,820 (42.9%) men (63.1 years) were included. Over a median follow-up of 6.9 years, there were 1719 (2.4%) deaths (733 in women; 986 in men). At 60 years, life expectancy was progressively longer for higher physical activity volume and intensity profiles, reaching 95.6 years in women and 94.5 years in men at the 90th centile for both volume and intensity, corresponding to 3.4 (95% confidence interval (95%CI): 2.4-4.4) additional years in women and 4.6 (95%CI: 3.6-5.6) additional years in men compared to those at the 10th centiles. An additional 10-min or 30-min daily brisk walk was associated with 0.9 (95%CI: 0.5-1.3) and 1.4 (95%CI: 0.9-1.9) years longer life expectancy, respectively, in inactive women; and 1.4 (95%CI: 1.0-1.8) and 2.5 (95%CI: 1.9-3.1) years in inactive men.

Conclusion: Higher physical activity volumes were associated with longer life expectancy, with a higher physical activity intensity profile further adding to a longer life. Adding as little as a 10-min brisk walk to daily activity patterns may result in a meaningful benefit to life expectancy.