Reporting that the global mortality burden of physical inactivity stands at more than 5.3 million deaths annually and is similar to that of cigarette smoking at 5 million deaths per year, I-Min Lee, from Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts, and colleagues urge for the adoption of initiatives to promote the attainment of the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity, such as brisk walking.
The team acquired burden-of-physical-activity measures through several large cohort studies from around the world using input from the Lancet Physical Activity Series Working Group, including data on prevalence of physical activity at baseline and incidence of death and relevant noncommunicable disease. Those data were then used to determine the population attributable fraction by country, by region and globally for coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, colon cancer and all-cause mortality.
The researchers found that by eliminating inactivity globally, the world’s population would gain an estimated median 0.68 years in life expectancy (range 0.41 to 0.95), and that inactivity was tied to 5.3 million of 57 million deaths around the world in 2008. The researchers commented that complete global elimination of inactivity was unlikely, but with a 10 or 25 percent reduction in global rates of inactivity, an estimated 533,000 and 1.3 million deaths, respectively, due to all-cause mortality would be prevented. Writing that “physical inactivity has a major health effect worldwide,” the authors observe, “Decrease in or removal of this unhealthy behavior could improve health substantially.”
Lee, I.M., et al. (2012). Lancet Physical Activity Series Working Group: effect of physical inactivity on major noncommunicable diseases worldwide: an analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy. Lancet. 380(9838):219-29.
—Dr. Bob Goldman
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Dr. Robert M. Goldman MD, PhD, DO, FAASP has spearheaded the development of numerous international medical organizations and corporations. Dr. Goldman has served as a Senior Fellow at the Lincoln Filene Center, Tufts University; as an Affiliate at the Philosophy of Education Research Center, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, He is Clinical Consultant, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Korea Medical University; and Professor, Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Central America Health Sciences, Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Goldman holds the positions of Visiting Professor, Udayana University School of Medicine, Indonesia; Visiting Professor, Huazhong University of Science & Technology Tong Ji Medical School, China; Visiting Professor, The Wuhan Institute of Science & Technology, China; Visiting Professor at Hainan Medical College, China; and Visiting Professor, School of Anti-Aging, Aesthetics and Regenerative Medicine, UCSI University, Malaysia. Dr. Goldman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Sports Physicians and a Board Diplomat in Sports Medicine and Board Certified in Anti-Aging Medicine. Dr. Goldman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Sports Physicians and a Board Diplomat in Sports Medicine and Board Certified in Anti-Aging Medicine. He has overseen cooperative research agreement development programs in conjunction with such prominent institutions as the American National Red Cross, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Defense, and the FDA’s Center for Devices & Radiological Health.
Dr Goldman was awarded the 2012 LifeTime Achievement Award in Medicine &Science. Dr. Goldman is the recipient of the ‘Gold Medal for Science, the Grand Prize for Medicine, the Humanitarian Award, and the Business Development Award. He received honors from Minister of Sports and government Health officials of numerous nations. In 2001, Excellency Juan Antonio Samaranch awarded Dr. Goldman the International Olympic Committee Tribute Diploma for contributions to the development of sport & Olympism.
In addition, Dr. Goldman is a black belt in karate, Chinese weapons expert, and world champion athlete with over 20 world strength records, he has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Some of his past performance records include 13,500 consecutive situps and 321 consecutive handstand pushups. Dr. Goldman was an All-College athlete in four sports, a three time winner of the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Physical Fitness Award, was voted Athlete of the Year, was the recipient of the Champions Award, and was inducted into the World Hall of Fame of Physical Fitness. Dr. Goldman was awarded the Healthy American Fitness Leader Award from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Goldman is Chairman of the International Medical Commission overseeing sports medicine committees in over 184 nations. He has served as a Special Advisor to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports. He is founder and international President Emeritis of the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the cofounder and Chairman of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). Dr. Goldman visits an average of 20 countries annually to promote brain research and sports medicine programs.