Human study · Exercise · 16 Oct 2026
In Swedes followed from age 16 to 63, better aerobic capacity at 34 and 52 lined up with less stiff arteries at 63
Source: Karolinska Institutet / Scientific Reports
What the research found
Study (longitudinal cohort). Maria Westerståhl and colleagues at Karolinska Institutet followed 427 men and women born in 1958 in the Swedish Physical Activity and Fitness study. A 2026 paper in Scientific Reports (DOI 10.1038/s41598-026-52389-8) found that people with better aerobic capacity at ages 34 and 52 tended to have less arterial stiffness at 63, and the link remained after accounting for obesity, smoking, and blood pressure. It does not prove that fitness prevented the vessel change. The same group's 2025 capacity paper (DOI 10.1002/jcsm.70134) reported that aerobic fitness and muscular endurance peaked between about 26 and 36, performance began to slip in the mid-30s, and by 63 the average drop from peak was about 30 to 48 percent. People who became active in adulthood gained about 5 to 10 percent in capacity. Decline rates were similar in men and women. Not medical advice.
Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.
Read the original at Karolinska Institutet / Scientific Reports
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