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Regular exercise reduces the risk of and death from pneumonia, study suggests

Press release issued: 7 December 2021

People who exercise regularly can reduce their risk of developing and dying from pneumonia, new research has found. The study, led by the University of Bristol and published in GeroScience, analysed, for the first time, ten population cohort studies with over one million participants.

The study found people who exercise regularly have a lower risk of developing pneumonia and pneumonia-related death compared to those who were the least or not physically active. The relationship was shown for pneumonias that did not result in death and those that resulted in death. The results did not change on taking into account known factors that can affect pneumonia such as age, sex, body mass index, socioeconomic status, alcohol consumption, smoking, and pre-existing diseases. The strength of the association did not vary by age or sex.

Read the full University of Bristol press release

Paper: 'Physical activity reduces the risk of pneumonia: systematic review and meta‑analysis of 10 prospective studies involving 1,044,492 participants' by Setor K. Kunutsor, Samuel Seidu, Jari A. Laukkanen in GeroScience

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