Why the study?
Although walking is known to protect against hypertension, more evidence was needed to determine whether walking pace independently provides additional hypertension risk reductions.
Does a faster self-perceived walking pace reduce the incidence of hypertension in adults initially free of chronic disease?
Does a faster self-perceived walking pace reduce the incidence of hypertension in adults initially free of chronic disease?
An increase in self-perceived walking pace is independently associated with a reduced risk of developing hypertension.
Brisk walking pace was associated with lower hypertension incidence; hypothesis-generating and requires randomized trials before practice change.
OBJECTIVE: Although available evidence supports the protective effects of walking on hypertension - a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke - more information is needed in determining whether walking pace independently provides additional hypertension risk reductions. This prospective study determined the association between self-reported walking pace and the incidence of hypertension in the 'Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra' (SUN) cohort in Spain. METHODS: Our population sample consisted of 15 357 university graduates initially free of chronic disease or hypertension. During an average follow-up time of 10.9 years, 1673 incident cases of hypertension were observed. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for hypertension risk of each walking pace [slow (reference), normal, brisk and very brisk] were estimated using Cox regression models, adjusted for multiple possible confounders. Data were collected from 1999 to 2019, and analysed in 2020. RESULTS: Participants who walked at a very brisk pace at baseline had a substantially lower risk of developing hypertension during follow-up than those who walked at a slow pace (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.41-0.99). Inverse associations were observed also for normal (HR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.46-0.90) and brisk walking pace (0.69; 95% CI: 0.50-0.97) as compared to slow pace, independent of other risk factors. CONCLUSION: Our results support that an increase in walking pace, even slightly, is inversely associated with the development of hypertension, independent of total time spent walking and other factors associated with hypertension.
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Etzig et al. (2021) studied this question.
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