A new study further supports the benefits of maintaining cardiovascular fitness during middle-age and beyond. In a study presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s EuroEcho 2019 meeting in Vienna, high cardiovascular fitness was linked with significantly lower death risks from heart disease, cancer and other causes for middle-aged and older women.

Researchers at University Hospital A Coruña in Spain evaluated 4,714 adult women ages 50–75 for approximately 5 years. Women with poor fitness levels had nearly four times the annual rate of death from heart disease and double the rate of death from cancer when compared to women with high fitness levels. For death from other causes, women with poor exercise capacity died at four times the rate of those with good exercise capacity.