PhysioUpdate News 21st March 2024

Taking enough daily steps may counteract risk of cardiovascular disease in highly sedentary people

Every additional step up to around 10,000 steps per day reduces the risk of death and cardiovascular disease (CVD) – regardless of how much remaining time is spent sedentary.

That is the conclusion of a large population-based study that was published online today (6 March) in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The article’s first author is Matthew Ahmadi from Mackenzie Wearables Research Hub at the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre.

Some previous studies have shown that greater daily step counts are associated with lower levels of death and CVD, while others have linked high levels of sedentary behaviour with increased risks of CVD and death. However, none of these studies investigated whether high levels of physical activity may offset or lessen the higher risk of death and CVD associated with time spent sedentary.

To address this, the authors of this new study, led by the University of Sydney/Charles Perkins Centre accessed data on 72,174 individuals (average age 61; 58 per cent female) enrolled in the UK Biobank study – a major biomedical database – who had worn an accelerometer device on their wrist for seven days to measure their physical activity.

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