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. 2025 Jan 6;32(1):65-74.
doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwae273.

Accelerometer-measured intensity-specific physical activity, genetic predisposition, and the risk of venous thromboembolism: a cohort study

Rui Ye  1 , Honghao Yang  2   3 , Shiwen Li  1 , Chao Ji  2   3 , Liangkai Chen  4 , Yuhong Zhao  2   3 , Li Zhao  1 , Yang Xia  2   3
Affiliations

Accelerometer-measured intensity-specific physical activity, genetic predisposition, and the risk of venous thromboembolism: a cohort study

Rui Ye et al. Eur J Prev Cardiol. .

Abstract

Objectives: The association between physical activity and venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the prospective dose-response associations between accelerometer-measured intensity-specific physical activity and new-onset VTE, accounting for genetic risk.

Methods and results: In total, 85 116 participants from the UK Biobank were included. Incident VTE was identified via linked hospital records and death registries. A weighted polygenic risk score (PRS) was used to quantify genetic risk for VTE, with higher values indicating a high genetic risk. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of the associations. Overall, 1182 incident VTE cases were documented during a median follow-up of 6.18 years. In the overall study population, the participants in the highest level of the total volume of physical activity [0.60 (0.45, 0.79)], moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity [0.66 (0.51, 0.86)], and light-intensity physical activity [0.66 (0.51, 0.85)] had lower adjusted HRs (95% CIs) for VTE than those of participants in the lowest level. Both the total volumes of physical activity and light-intensity physical activity were negatively associated with VTE risk in participants with low, intermediate, and high PRS. However, moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity was only protective against VTE in participants with low and intermediate PRS, with a significant interaction (P for interaction = 0.02).

Conclusion: Higher levels of physical activity of any intensity were associated with a lower risk of new-onset VTE. However, the negative association between moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity and new-onset VTE was significant only in participants with low and intermediate genetic predispositions to VTE.

Keywords: Cohort; Genetic risk; Physical activity; Venous thromboembolism.

Plain language summary

Based on the UK Biobank cohort of 85 116 participants, this study aimed to explore the longitudinal associations between accelerometer-measured intensity-specific physical activity (PA) and risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and whether these associations could be modified by genetic predisposition, as reflected by polygenic risk scores (PRS), with higher values indicating a higher genetic risk. Our results showed that the risk of new-onset VTE decreased with increasing PA until total volume of PA, moderate-to-vigorous-intensity PA, and light-intensity PA reached approximately 40 milligravity/day, 45 min/day, and 350 min/day, respectively, and then remained relatively constant. The VTE-PRS modified the association between moderate-to-vigorous-intensity PA and VTE risk. The protective association between moderate-to-vigorous-intensity PA and the risk of VTE was more pronounced among participants with the lowest level of VTE-PRS.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Comment in

  • Moving a lot prevents the clot.
    Benzidia I, Espinola-Klein C. Benzidia I, et al. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2025 Jan 6;32(1):75-76. doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwae360. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2025. PMID: 39506554 No abstract available.

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