More Steps, Regardless of Intensity, Linked to Lower Mortality Risk
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Taking more steps each day, regardless of the step intensity, is associated with a reduction in mortality risk, according to the results of a recent study.
While it is generally understood that moving more is associated with health benefits, the association between the number and intensity of steps and mortality risk is unclear.
To explore this relationship, researchers conducted a study involving 4840 individuals, aged at least 40 years, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-2006), and wore accelerometers for up to 7 days. Mortality was assessed through December 2015.
Using the accelerometers, the researchers measured both the number of steps per day and 3 intensity measures (cadence, peak 30-minute cadence, and peak 1-minute cadence [steps/minute]).
Overall, the mean number of steps per day was 9124. There were 1165 deaths over a mean follow-up of 10.1 years, 406 of which were attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 283 attributed to cancer.
Unadjusted incidence density for all-cause mortality was as follows:
- 76.7 per 1000 person-years for the 655 participants who took less than 4000 steps per day
- 21.4 per 1000 person-years for the 1727 participants who took 4000 to 7999 steps per day
- 6.9 per 1000 person-years for the 1539 participants who took 8000 to 11,999 steps per day
- 4.8 per 1000 person-years for the 919 participants who took at least 12,000 steps per day
Taking 8000 or 12,000 steps per day was associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.49 [95% CI, 0.44-0.55] and HR, 0.35 [95% CI, 0.28-0.45], respectively) compared with taking only 4000 steps.
For peak 30 cadence, unadjusted incidence density for all-cause mortality was as follows:
- 32.9 per 1000 person-years for the 1080 participants who took 18.5 to 56.0 steps per minute
- 12.6 per 1000 person-years for the 1153 participants who took 56.1 to 69.2 steps per minute
- 6.8 per 1000 person-years for the 1074 participants who took 69.3 to 82.8 steps per minute
- 5.3 per 1000 person-years for the 1037 participants who took 82.9 to 149.5 steps per minute
However, step intensity was not significantly associated with reduction in mortality after adjustment for total steps per day.
—Michael Potts
Reference:
Sain-Maurice PF, Troiano RP, Bassett DR, et al. Association of daily step count and step intensity with mortality among us adults. JAMA. 2020;323(12):1151-1160. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.1382.