Early fitness linked to healthier arteries

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“Our findings show that good physical fitness early in life is linked to vascular health later in life, independently of traditional risk factors,” says Andrea Tryfonos, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.

According to the researchers, the results suggest that regular physical activity may have long-term effects on cardiovascular health that are not captured by blood lipids and other common risk markers alone.

“This highlights the importance of maintaining good fitness from early adulthood to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease,” says Andrea Tryfonos.

Next step

The researchers are now planning a follow-up of the participants at age 68 to investigate how changes in fitness over time affect vascular health later in life.

The study was conducted in collaboration with the division of clinical physiology and the division of clinical chemistry at the department of laboratory medicine, as well as Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge. Information on funding and potential conflicts of interest is not available in the provided material.

Publication

Aerobic capacity at age 34 predicts arterial stiffness in age 63, independent of classical and advanced lipid-related cardiovascular risk factors: a longitudinal cohort study, Andrea Tryfonos, Matteo Pedrelli, Paolo Parini, Eva Jansson, Ulrika Aasa, Uwe J. F. Tietge, Maria Westerståhl. Scientific reports, online 19 maj 2026, doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-52389-8.