A community-based study of stroke survivors in Canada has shown that people who met guideline-recommended levels of physical activity were found to have a significantly lower risk for death from any cause. There was an over 50% reduction in the risk, noted researchers.

The impact of physical activity was shown to differ significantly by age, with people below 75 years of age having a 79% reduction in mortality risk compared to 32% reduction in risk among those aged 75 years and above. This persisted after adjusting for factors such heart disease, respiratory conditions, smoking and other functional limitations. While more stroke patients died during the study period, compared to controls (24.7% vs 5.7%), those who met the physical activity guideline recommendations of 10 MET-hours/week had a lower mortality, both in the stroke survivor group and among control population. The findings are published in the journal Neurology… (Medscape)