Patients with heart disease who met weekly guidelines for moderate to vigorous exercise saved on average more than $2,500 in annual healthcare costs.
Healthy patients, and those with cardiovascular risk factors, who exercised as recommended also had lower average medical costs.
Getting recommended levels of exercise weekly may help keep down annual medical costs both for people with and without cardiovascular disease, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
Although it's well known that regular moderate exercise reduces risk of heart disease, stroke, and chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, "our findings also emphasize the favorable impact on how much you pay for healthcare," said Khurram Nasir, M.D.
