Slow walking pace Signs of increased cardiac death risk

Threatens at slow walking pace premature death from heart disease?
Can the speed with which we travel on foot indicate an increased risk of heart disease? Researchers have now found that slow walking is indeed a good predictor of heart disease deaths.

The researchers from the University of Leicester and Loughborough University found in their current research that walking slowly when people are walking may indicate an increased likelihood of heart disease. The researchers published a press release on the results of their study.

What does the speed of walking say about our health? Researchers found that a slow walking pace indicates an increased likelihood of premature death from heart disease. (Photo: Robert Kneschke / fotolia.com)

Speed ​​when walking as a risk indicator
Middle-aged people, who generally walk slowly, are at an increased risk for heart disease compared to the general population. The results of the current study show that the speed of our movements is a good predictor of deaths associated with heart disease, experts say.

Physicians examined more than 420,000 subjects for their study
For their study, researchers from the University of Leicester and Loughborough University analyzed data from a UK database of nearly half a million middle-aged participants across the UK. The data was collected between the year 2006 and the year 2010. A total of 420,727 subjects were included in the current study.

Over 8,500 subjects died in the course of the study
According to the data collection, in the following years there were 8,598 deaths in the examined sample population. There were 1,654 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 4,850 deaths from cancer. In their study, scientists were particularly interested in the link between slow walking and the risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer, explains author Professor Tom Yates of the University of Leicester. In particular, the question arose whether the probability of premature death could be predicted on the basis of the walking pace.

Slow walking people die twice as often as a result of heart disease
The results of the study showed that walking slowly makes it twice as likely to die as a result of heart disease, compared to people walking at a fast pace, the experts explain. This finding has been reported in both men and women and is not associated with risk factors such as smoking, body mass index, diet or watching TV. This suggests that ordinary walking can be an independent predictor of death from heart disease, the researchers emphasize.

Slow walking pace indicates reduced fitness
"We also found that the walking pace reported by the participants was strongly linked to the individual, objectively measured physical fitness," say the authors. This indicates that the walking pace is a good measure of overall physical fitness. Therefore, the walking pace can be used to identify people with low physical fitness and an increased risk of mortality. Such people could then benefit particularly from targeted physical exercise interventions, explain the scientists. (As)