Fast walking for 15 minutes a day linked to lower death risk

Walking fast for just 15 minutes per day reduced the risk of death in a large study group of mostly low-income participants.

The research findings, published July 29 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, support promoting brisk walking as a strategy for improving health outcomes in all communities.

Although the health benefits of walking are widely recognized, there has been limited research on the effect of factors such as walking pace on mortality, particularly in low-income and Black populations, said the study's senior author, Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, MPH, the Anne Potter Wilson Professor of Medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center.

"This is one of the few studies to quantify the effect of daily walking on mortality in a low-income and predominantly Black U.S. population," said Zheng, who also directs the Division of Epidemiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "By demonstrating the benefits of fast walking - which is a low-cost and largely accessible activity - we provide direct evidence to inform targeted public health interventions and policies to improve health outcomes."

The study analyzed data from the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS), which enrolled about 85,000 participants ages 40-79 between 2002 and 2009. Most participants (86%) were recruited in collaboration with community health centers serving low-income populations across 12 southeastern states. Participants provided baseline information, including daily walking pace and time, demographic and lifestyle factors, and medical history, using structured questionnaires.

The current study, led by first author Lili Liu, PhD, MPH, included data from 79,856 of the SCCS participants (racial groups: 66% Black, 30% white, 4% other). In the baseline survey, participants reported the average amount of time per day (in minutes) they typically spend "walking slowly (such as moving around, walking at work, walking the dog or engaging in light exercise)" and "walking fast (such as climbing stairs, brisk walking or exercising)."

The cohort was linked to the National Death Index to obtain vital status and cause of death information through Dec. 31, 2022. Over a median follow-up of 16.7 years, 26,862 deaths occurred.

The researchers found that fast walking as little as 15 minutes per day was associated with a nearly 20% reduction in total mortality. Slow walking more than three hours per day was associated with a smaller reduction in mortality. The benefit of fast walking remained strong even after accounting for other lifestyle factors, such as leisure-time physical activity levels.

In addition to reducing premature death from all causes, fast walking reduced death specifically from cardiovascular diseases - the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. The researchers suggested that fast walking might reduce cardiovascular mortality by improving the heart's efficiency and output, and by reducing the prevalence of obesity and its associated cardiovascular risks such as hypertension and high cholesterol.

Brisk walking offers a convenient, accessible and low-impact activity that individuals of all ages and fitness levels can use to improve general health and cardiovascular health specifically."

Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, MPH, the Anne Potter Wilson Professor of Medicine and Director, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center

The authors acknowledge that self-reported data on daily walking may have included other types of physical activity, which could introduce misclassification errors. Also, the physical activity data was only collected at baseline, so changes over time could not be considered. The study's long follow-up and large sample size contribute to "robust and reliable estimates," they noted.

Other VUMC co-authors are Guochang Jia, PhD, Martha Shrubsole, PhD, Wanqing Wen, MD, MPH, and Staci Sudenga, PhD. The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (grant U01CA202979).