Exercise and Smoking

Abstract

DR. BRUNNER: I will present a few data on physical occupational activity and coronary artery disease (CAD). The collective settlements — kibbutzim — provide a good opportunity to investigate this question. People in the kibbutzim live in uniform environmental conditions. There is no private property. Type of work or job position has no influence on standard of living. Food is prepared in a common kitchen and served in a common dining room. The members are engaged in different types of work such as agriculture, fishing, building, light industry, teaching, accounting, clerical or managerial. The following two diagrams demonstrate the incidence (per year in 1000 men) of new cases of various clinical manifestations of CAD, found in a retrospective 15-year survey, comprising 5,279 men and 5,229 women, 40–64 years-old, members of collective settlements. The subjects are Ashkenazim, European-born Jews. Those whose jobs required strenuous physical exertion were contrasted with those whose work was largely sedentary. A sedentary worker was defined as one who at least 80% of his working hours is in a sitting position. People performing light or hard physical work were included in the category of physical workers. In all age brackets the incidence (per 1,000 men per year) of manifestations of CAD was 2½–3 times greater in sedentary than in physical male workers (FIG. 1).