Study finds women need less exercise than men for heart protection

A new analysis of wearable activity data suggests women gain greater protection against coronary heart disease from moderate to vigorous exercise than men, and they require substantially less weekly activity to achieve similar risk reductions. Published Monday in Nature Cardiovascular Research, the study used wrist-worn activity trackers from more than 85,000 participants in the UK Biobank and tracked health outcomes over about eight years.

Among roughly 80,000 adults without prior coronary heart disease, women who logged 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous activity had a 22 percent lower risk of developing coronary heart disease than less active women. Men who met the same threshold saw a 17 percent reduction. Increasing activity to about 250 minutes per week was associated with a 30 percent lower risk for women; men reached a comparable 30 percent reduction only after about 530 minutes per week, or nearly nine hours, of activity.

The researchers also examined a subgroup of 5,169 participants with established coronary heart disease, who had an average age of 67 and were two thirds men. In that group, women meeting the 150-minute weekly target experienced a markedly...