This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 138 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: Dr Tanasescu and colleagues¹ found that more intense exercise was associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). The authors acknowledge the possibility of potential confounding factors (the "healthy cohort" effect) and appropriately adjusted for these variables in their analyses. Nonetheless, the authors did not adjust for aspirin use, despite the known association between aspirin use and risk of CHD.² It is possible that self-selected aspirin use among health professionals could be associated with patterns of exercise, similar to the authors' observation of increasing use of vitamin E supplements with increasing level of physical activity. If information concerning aspirin intake were available it would be of interest to note whether accounting for its use influences the observed relationship between exercise and CHD.

Robert Burack, MD, MPH
Department of Medicine
Wayne State University
Detroit, Mich

1. Tanasescu M, Leitzmann MF, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Hu FB. Exercise type and intensity in relation to coronary heart disease in men. JAMA. 2002;288:1994-2000. FREE FULL TEXT 2. Steering Committee of the Physicians' Health Study Research Group. Final report on the aspirin component of the ongoing Physicians' Health Study. N Engl J Med. 1989;321:129-135. ABSTRACT

Letters Section Editor: Stephen J. Lurie, MD, PhD, Senior Editor.

JAMA. 2003;289:419.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLES

Exercise Intensity and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease
Stuart Brody
JAMA. 2003;289(4):419.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Exercise Intensity and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease
Mihaela Tanasescu, Michael F. Leitzmann, Eric B. Rimm, Walter C. Willett, Meir J. Stampfer, and Frank B. Hu
JAMA. 2003;289(4):419-420.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Exercise Type and Intensity in Relation to Coronary Heart Disease in Men
Mihaela Tanasescu, Michael F. Leitzmann, Eric B. Rimm, Walter C. Willett, Meir J. Stampfer, and Frank B. Hu
JAMA. 2002;288(16):1994-2000.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT