Sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort study
Laukkanen, T., Kunutsor, S. K., Khan, H., Willeit, P., Zaccardi, F., & Laukkanen, J. (2018). Sauna bathing is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and improves risk prediction in men and women: a prospective cohort study. BMC Medicine, 16, Article 219. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1198-0
Published in
BMC MedicineAuthors
Date
2018Copyright
© The Author(s), 2018.
Background: Previous evidence indicates that sauna bathing is related to a reduced risk of fatal cardiovascular
disease (CVD) events in men. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sauna habits and
CVD mortality in men and women, and whether adding information on sauna habits to conventional cardiovascular
risk factors is associated with improvement in prediction of CVD mortality risk.
Methods: Sauna bathing habits were assessed at baseline in a sample of 1688 participants (mean age 63; range
53–74 years), of whom 51.4% were women. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated to investigate
the relationships of frequency and duration of sauna use with CVD mortality.
Results: A total of 181 fatal CVD events occurred during a median follow-up of 15.0 years (interquartile range, 14.
1–15.9). The risk of CVD mortality decreased linearly with increasing sauna sessions per week with no threshold
effect. In age- and sex-adjusted analysis, compared with participants who had one sauna bathing session per
week, HRs (95% CIs) for CVD mortality were 0.71 (0.52 to 0.98) and 0.30 (0.14 to 0.64) for participants with two to
three and four to seven sauna sessions per week, respectively. After adjustment for established CVD risk factors,
potential confounders including physical activity, socioeconomic status, and incident coronary heart disease, the
corresponding HRs (95% CIs) were 0.75 (0.52 to 1.08) and 0.23 (0.08 to 0.65), respectively. The duration of sauna
use (minutes per week) was inversely associated with CVD mortality in a continuous manner. Addition of information
on sauna bathing frequency to a CVD mortality risk prediction model containing established risk factors was associated
with a C-index change (0.0091; P = 0.010), difference in − 2 log likelihood (P = 0.019), and categorical net reclassification
improvement (4.14%; P = 0.004).
Conclusions: Higher frequency and duration of sauna bathing are each strongly, inversely, and independently
associated with fatal CVD events in middle-aged to elderly males and females. The frequency of sauna bathing
improves the prediction of the long-term risk for CVD mortality
...
Publisher
BioMed CentralISSN Search the Publication Forum
1741-7015Keywords
Publication in research information system
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/28767424
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- Liikuntatieteiden tiedekunta [3077]
License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
Handgrip strength is inversely associated with fatal cardiovascular and all-cause mortality events
Laukkanen, Jari A.; Voutilainen, Ari; Kurl, Sudhir; Araujo, Claudio Gil S.; Jae, Sae Young; Kunutsor, Setor K. (Taylor & Francis, 2020)Purpose: We aimed to assess the associations of handgrip strength (HS) with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality and whether adding data on HS to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors is associated with improvement ... -
Handgrip strength and all‐cause dementia incidence and mortality : findings from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study
Esteban‐Cornejo, Irene; Ho, Frederick K.; Petermann‐Rocha, Fanny; Lyall, Donald M.; Martinez‐Gomez, David; Cabanas‐Sánchez, Verónica; Ortega, Francisco B.; Hillman, Charles H.; Gill, Jason M. R.; Quinn, Terence J.; Sattar, Naveed; Pell, Jill P.; Gray, Stuart R.; Celis‐Morales, Carlos (Wiley, 2022)Background This study aimed to investigate the associations of grip strength with incidence and mortality from dementia and whether these associations differ by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Methods A total ... -
Association between ideal cardiovascular health and risk of sudden cardiac death and all-cause mortality among middle-aged men in Finland
Isiozor, Nzechukwu M.; Kunutsor, Setor K.; Voutilainen, Ari; Kurl, Sudhir; Kauhanen, Jussi; Laukkanen, Jari A. (Sage Publications, 2021)Background Strong associations have been demonstrated between the American Heart Association’s cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics and various cardiovascular outcomes, but the association with sudden cardiac death (SCD) ... -
Leisure Time Physical Activity and Sleep Predict Mortality in Men Irrespective of Background in Competitive Sports
Wennman, Heini; Kronholm, Erkki; Heinonen, Olli; Kujala, Urho; Kaprio, Jaakko; Partonen, Timo; Bäckmand, Heli; Sarna, Seppo; Borodulin, Katja (Wolters Kluwer, 2017)Introduction: Physical activity and sleep are closely related behaviors with suggested synergistic influence on cardiovascular health. Physical activity potentially modifies associations between sleep and mortality. Our ... -
Cross-country skiing and running's association with cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality : A review of the evidence
Laukkanen, Jari A.; Kunutsor, Setor K.; Ozemek, Cemal; Mäkikallio, Timo; Lee, Duck-chul; Wisloff, Ulrik; Lavie, Carl J. (Elsevier Inc., 2020)A large body of evidence demonstrates positive, graded effects of PA on cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality with increasing intensity compared with lower PA intensity. Running is often designated as a ...