RESEARCH NEWS

Does exercise need to be considered as a viable alternative to, or alongside, drug therapy?

The London School of Economics, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine joined forces for a recent study that suggests physical exercise can play a crucial role in combating a range of diseases.

Research published in the British Medical Journal found no statistically detectable differences between exercise and drug interventions for secondary prevention of heart disease and prevention of diabetes, having analysed the results of 305 randomised controlled trials involving 339,274 individuals.

Among stroke patients, exercise was more effective than drug treatment, while for heart failure, diuretic drugs were more effective than exercise and all other types of drug treatment. The authors point out that the amount of trial evidence on the mortality benefits of exercise

is considerably smaller compared to that on drugs, and this may have had an impact on their results.

The authors argue that this ‘blind spot’ in available scientific evidence “prevents prescribers and their patients from understanding the clinical circumstances where drugs might provide only modest improvement but exercise could yield more profound or sustainable gains in health.”

Despite this uncertainty, the available evidence suggests physical activity is potentially as effective as many drug interventions and subsequently implies a need for more research to address the disparity between exercise and drug-based treatment evidence.

For more information, visit http://bit. ly/19gte4q

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