Association between physical activity and mortality among community-dwelling stroke survivors

Objective:  To determine the relationship between physical activity and mortality in community-dwelling stroke survivors.

Methods:  The Canadian Community Health Survey was used to obtain self-reported physical activity (PA) across four survey years and was linked to administrative databases to obtain prior diagnosis of stroke and subsequent all-cause mortality.  PA was measured as metabolic equivalents (METs) per week and meeting minimal PA guidelines was defined as 10 MET-hours/week.  Cox proportional hazard regression models and restricted cubic splines were used to determine the relationship between PA and all-cause mortality in respondents with prior stroke and controls, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, co-morbidities, and functional health status.

Results:  The cohort included 895 respondents with prior stroke and 97805 controls.  Adhering to PA guidelines was associated with lower hazard of death for those with prior stroke (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.46, 95% CI 0...