Improving lifestyle related risk factors in patients with coronary artery disease Focus on physical activity

There is room for improvement of lifestyle related risk factors in individuals with coronary artery disease as well. A majority of individuals with coronary artery disease maintains their unhealthy behavior including overweight, physical inactivity and smoking habits, therefore improvement of the secondary prevention management in health centers should be highly considered.
In the current thesis we obtained insight in cardiovascular health in apparently healthy individuals and in individuals with coronary artery disease, the impact of different levels of physical activities on the risk of cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and elderly people, and the impact of community-based widely available lifestyle programs on lifestyle related risk factors in individuals with coronary artery disease. Cardiovascular health metrics for modifiable risk factors might be useful in monitoring cardiovascular health in apparently healthy individuals and individuals with coronary artery disease. We observed that middle-aged and elderly people engaged in little physical activity had substantially health benefits, namely little physical activity was associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore two exercise parameters were evaluated in their feasibility to monitor physical activity in daily practice. The status of physical activity remains difficult to monitor in daily clinical practice, contemporary outpatient clinics might use additional exercise parameters in obtaining insight in physical fitness derived from maximal and submaximal cardiopulmonary exercise tests in cardiovascular risk scores.