Association of Objectively Measured Walking Speed with Incident Cardiovascular Diseases in Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Adults

Abstract

ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between objectively measured walking speed and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults. MethodsA total of 3969 participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were included in this study. Multilevel logistic and linear regression models (community-household-individual) were used to estimate the association between walking speed and the risk of CVD. ResultsA total of 1037 participants had a CVD event during the follow-up period, including 776 (19.6%) cases of cardiac disease and 353 (8.9%) cases of stroke. Participants who walked faster had a lower risk of CVD (Tertile 2: OR=0.80, 95%CI:0.67-0.97, P=0.022; Tertile 3: OR=0.73, 95%CI: 0.60-0.89, P=0.002). Further analysis showed that participants who walked faster also had a lower risk of cardiac disease and stroke (Cardiac disease: Tertile 2: OR=0.91, 95%CI:0.74-1.12, P=0.368; Tertile 3: OR=0.85, 95%CI: 0.68-1.07, P=0.161; Stroke: Tertile 2: OR=0.33, 95%CI:0.14-0.78, P=0.012; Tertile 3: OR=0.30, 95%CI: 0.11-0.82, P=0.019). The results were consistent in pre-specified subgroups by sex, age, and body mass index. ConclusionWe found that faster objectively measured walking speed was significantly associated with a lower risk of CVD, especially stroke, in middle-aged and elderly Chinese people.