Study: Cars, TV Increase Risk of Heart Attack

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - Do you own a car and a TV? That probably means you're a typical American. It also means you have an increased risk of having a heart attack.

According to a news release from European Society of Cardiology , a recent global study has proven than people who engage in physical activity during work and leisure time tend to have a lower risk of heart attack than those with less active lifestyles. What's even worse is that the ownership of a car and television have specifically been linked to an increased risk of heart attack by about 27 percent because these devices "promote sedentary behavior," according to the study.

These findings come from the INTERHEART study, a case-controlled look at nearly 30,000 people from 52 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, North and South America, according to European Society of Cardiology. The study was published in the Jan. 11 edition of the online edition of the European Heart Journal .

Other findings from the study:

• People who performed mild exercise had a 13 percent lower chance of heart attack than their sedentary peers, while people who regularly performed moderate or strenuous exercises had a 24 percent lower risk of heart attack.
• People surveyed who's work involved light physical activity had a 22 percent lower risk than those who work stationary desk jobs.
• Moderate activity at work was only associated with an 11 percent reduction in risk, while those who performed strenuous labor – including heavy lifting – at work had the same risk as their sedentary peers.

"Until now, few studies have looked at the different aspects of physical activity both at work and during leisure time in relation to the risk of heart attacks," said lead author Professor Claes Held wrote.