RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Cardiovascular fitness and later risk of epilepsy
JF Neurology
JO Neurology
FD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
SP 1051
OP 1057
DO 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182a4a4c0
VO 81
IS 12
A1 Jenny Nyberg
A1 Maria A.I. Åberg
A1 Kjell Torén
A1 Michael Nilsson
A1 Elinor Ben-Menachem
A1 H. Georg Kuhn
YR 2013
UL http://n.neurology.org/content/81/12/1051.abstract
AB Objective: To analyze the associations between cardiovascular fitness at age 18 years and future risk of epilepsy.Methods: Population-based cohort study of Swedish male conscripts (n = 1,173,079) born in 1950–1987, who were followed for up to 40 years. Data on cardiovascular fitness were collected during conscription exams and linked with hospital registers to calculate later risk of epilepsy using Cox proportional hazard models controlling for several confounders, including familial factors.Results: Epilepsy was recorded in 6,796 individuals during the follow-up time. In fully adjusted models, low and medium cardiovascular fitness (compared with high) at age 18 years was associated with increased risk of future epilepsy (hazard ratio 1.79, 95% confidence interval 1.57–2.03; and hazard ratio 1.36, 95% confidence interval 1.27–1.45, respectively). The associations changed only marginally after adjustment for familial influences and prior severe traumatic brain injury, cerebrovascular disease, or diabetes.Conclusions: Low cardiovascular fitness early in life is associated with an increased risk of epilepsy later in adulthood. These results agree with previous results from animal models. We propose that behaviors that increase cardiovascular fitness may act as positive disease-modifiers for the development of epilepsy.BMI=body mass index; ICD=International Classification of Diseases; LISA=Longitudinal Integration Database for Health Insurance and Labor Market Studies; TBI=traumatic brain injury; Wmax=maximum work rate at volitional exhaustion