Exercise may be as effective as many drugs in the treatment of a number of conditions, including heart disease and heart failure, new research suggests.

The health benefits of physical activity are already well acknowledged, yet many adults do not meet minimum activity levels. On the other hand, prescription rates for drugs for common conditions, such as coronary heart disease, continue to increase.

Until now, there has been very few studies into comparisons between exercise and drugs when it comes to reducing the risk of death from common conditions. As a result, UK and US scientists decided to investigate this further.

They compared the effectiveness of physical activity versus drugs in relation to the death rates linked to four common conditions - secondary prevention of heart disease, treatment of heart failure, rehabilitation of stroke and prevention of diabetes.

Secondary prevention refers to cases where a person already has a disease, but attempts are made to treat it before it causes significant problems.

The scientists analysed the results of over 300 trials involving almost 340,000 people.

They found no statistically detectable differences between the use of drugs and exercise when it came to the secondary prevention of heart disease and the prevention of diabetes. In other words, exercise appeared to be as effective as drugs.

Furthermore, among people who had suffered a stroke, exercise was more effective than the use of drugs, while among those with heart failure, diuretic drugs were more effective than both exercise and other types of drugs.

Diuretics are used to help rid the body of sodium (salt) and water.

The scientists acknowledged that there is far more research on the potential benefits of drugs than on the potential benefits of exercise and this may have affected the results.

However, they insisted that based on the current research available, exercise is possibly as effective as many types of drugs. They have called for more research in this area.

"In cases where drug options provide only modest benefit, patients deserve to understand the relative impact that physical activity might have on their condition," they said.

Details of these findings are published in the British Medical Journal.

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