AJM Theme Issue: Infectious DiseaseClinical research studyModerate-Intensity Exercise Reduces the Incidence of Colds Among Postmenopausal Women
Section snippets
Methods
Participants were enrolled in a randomized trial of Seattle-area, overweight/obese, nonsmoking, sedentary, postmenopausal women,13 recruited between 1998 and 2000, who met eligibility criteria for a study of the exercise effect on immune function (n = 115, described in detail in Shade et al.14). The exercise prescription consisted of at least 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 5 days per week for 12 months (for details, see Irwin et al.15). Control participants attended once-weekly,
Results
Exercisers and stretching controls were comparable at baseline on key demographic variables and self-reported colds and other upper respiratory tract infection episodes (Table 1). On average, study participants were 61 years old and had a body mass index of 30 kg/m2. Intervention participants exercised an average of 3.8 days/week, for a total of 166 minutes/week, meeting 85% of their exercise time goal. Exercisers wore heart-rate monitors and showed significant increases in cardiopulmonary
Discussion
The results from this randomized, controlled trial show that moderate-intensity exercise training over the course of 1 year can reduce the incidence of colds among postmenopausal, nonsmoking, previously sedentary women. The lack of effect on upper respiratory tract infections overall (which included flu episodes) may be because more stretchers than exercisers were vaccinated against influenza in the 6 months before baseline. Further, more stretchers (42%) than exercisers (23%) reported
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This study was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) (R01 CA 69334). Ms. Chubak was supported by grant T32 CA09168 from the NCI. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCI or National Institutes of Health. Dr. Wener was supported in part by the University of Washington Clinical Nutrition Research Grant (DK35816).