Could Sauna Use Improve CV Health and Decrease Mortality?

Frequent sauna use could reduce the risk of fatal coronary heart disease (CHD), fatal cardiovascular disease (CVD), sudden cardiac death (SCD), and all-cause mortality in men, according to a recent study.

In the past, sauna bathing has been promoted as a health habit linked to improved hemodynamic function, however, the association between sauna use and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality had not been studied.
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For the prospective cohort study, researchers gathered data from 2315 men (ages 42 to 60 years) in Eastern Finland, examining the frequency and duration of the participants’ sauna bathing at baseline (from March 1, 1984 to December 31, 1989).

Overall, 601 participants reported a sauna bathing session 1 time per week 1513 reported 2 to 3 times per week, and 201 men reported visiting the sauna 4 to 7 times per week.

After a median follow-up of 20.7 years, researchers recorded 929 instances of all-cause mortality, 407 fatal CVDs, 282 fatal CHDs, and 190 SCD events occurred.

After researchers adjusted for baseline CVD risk, they found that the men with 4 to 7 sauna sessions weekly had a 63% decreased risk for SCD compared to men with 1 session per week.

The adjusted hazard ratio for men who had a sauna session of 11 to 19 minutes was 0.93, while those exceeding 19 minutes yielded a 0.48 hazard ratio compared to those with sessions less than 11 minutes.

“Increased frequency of sauna bathing is associated with a reduced risk of SCD, CHD, CVD, and all-cause mortality. Further studies are warranted to establish the potential mechanism that links sauna bathing and cardiovascular health,” said the authors of the study.

The complete study is published in the February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Laukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. Association between sauna bathing and fatal cardiovascular and all-cause mortality events. JAMA Intern Med. 2015 February [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8187.