Walking Just 2,400 Steps a Day Reduces Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Death

Banach Johns Hopkins Medical School Research Team Reveals
Walking More Than 3,967 Steps a Day Lowers Mortality Risk

A study has revealed that walking about 2,400 steps a day can reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases.

A study has revealed that walking about 2,400 steps a day can reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

Professor Maciej Banach of the Medical University of Lodz in Poland and his team at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States announced on the 9th (local time) in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology that the health benefits of walking begin to appear from 2,300 steps per day and increase up to 20,000 steps. However, they added that an upper limit was not identified.

The study found that walking more than 3,967 steps a day reduced the risk of death from all causes, and walking more than 2,337 steps a day lowered the risk of death from heart and vascular diseases.

The risk of death from all causes and from cardiovascular diseases decreased with every increase of 500 to 1,000 steps per day. Specifically, a 1,000-step increase per day reduced the risk of death from all causes by 15%, and a 500-step increase per day reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases by 7%.

The research team conducted a meta-analysis of 17 studies worldwide involving a total of 226,889 participants. The average age of the participants was 64 years, with 49% being women, and the average follow-up period was 7.1 years.

According to the analysis, the risk of death decreased by 42% among seniors aged 60 and over who walked 6,000 to 10,000 steps daily. For those under 60 who walked 7,000 to 13,000 steps a day, the risk of death decreased by 49%.

When divided into four groups based on daily step counts, compared to the lowest quartile (median 3,967 steps), the risk of death from all causes decreased by 48%, 55%, and 67% in the first quartile (median 5,537 steps), second quartile (median 7,370 steps), and third quartile (median 11,529 steps), respectively.

Professor Banach explained, "This study shows that the health benefits of walking appear at fewer steps than previously thought, and the more you walk, the better. This applies regardless of gender, age, or the climate of the area where one lives."

Meanwhile, the research team noted limitations of the study, including that it was an observational study which only shows an association between increased step counts and reduced mortality risk but does not prove causation, that people with other diseases were not included, and that factors such as race and socioeconomic status were not considered.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.