The Secret to a Long Life is…

Men and Women 80 years of age and older:

According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), there is insufficient evidence to determine the risk verses benefit of taking aspirin by men and women over 79 years of age for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Aerobic exercise and coronary artery disease:

Aerobic exercise (with a cardiac rehab program if required) reduces mortality in coronary artery disease. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials by Taylor et al found that exercise based cardiac rehabilitation reduces all cause and cardiac mortality and improves a number of cardiac risk factors in patients with coronary heart disease according to this meta-analysis of 48 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (8940 patients, mean age 55 y). Intervention duration ranged from 0.25–30 months and follow up was between 6–72 months. Patients who received exercise-based cardiac rehab had a significant reduction in all cause mortality of 20% and cardiac mortality of 26% than did patients who received usual care. Groups did not differ for rates of non-fatal heart attack (odds ratio [OR]= 0.79), coronary artery bypass grafting (OR=0.87), or percutaneous coronary intervention (OR=0.81). Cardiac rehabilitation was associated with significant reductions in total cholesterol of 0.37 mmol/L and triglyceride concentrations by 0.23 mmol/L; no significant differences were seen in low ‘bad’ or high-density ‘good’ lipoprotein concentrations. Systolic blood pressure was significantly reduced by 3.2 mm Hg. A significant 36% reduction in patient smoking was reported with cardiac rehabilitation. (2)