Speed up the pace! Slow walkers are FOUR TIMES more likely to die than Covid-19, study warns
- Researchers used data from the UK Biobank and compared the pace of walking to Covid’s risk
- They found that slow walkers with normal weight were at a higher risk of death
- Fast obese hikers are less at risk of Covid than those who walk slowly with normal weight
- The team says this is because they have a better cardiovascular system
People who walk slowly are four times more likely to die from coronavirus and twice as likely to contract severe Covid-19, a new study warned.
Researchers at the University of Leicester studied 412,596 middle-aged UK Biobank participants and the relative link between body mass, walking pace and Covid-19.
People walking slowly but with normal weight are 2.5 times more likely to develop severe Covid-19 than fast, normal-weight walkers, the team found.
They also found that slow walkers were 3.75 times more likely to die from the virus that put most of the world on the block and caused millions of deaths.
For the study, a slow walker was defined as someone who moved at three miles an hour, while a fast walker moved at more than six kilometers an hour.
Although the reason for the findings remains unclear, the researchers suggest that fast walkers can have a healthier cardiovascular system, regardless of their weight.
People who walk slowly are four times more likely to die from coronavirus and twice as likely to contract severe Covid-19, a new study warned. Stock Image
All data came from the UK Biobank, a large, long-term study of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure that began in 2006.
Tom Yates, the study’s lead researcher and professor of physical activity, sedentary behavior and health at the University of Leicester, said it has been established that obesity and frailty are “key risk factors” for the Covid-19 results.
“This is the first study to show that slow walkers have a much higher risk of getting serious Covid-19 results, regardless of weight,” he said.
“As the pandemic continues to put unprecedented pressure on health services and communities, it is crucial to identify those most at risk and take preventive measures to protect them.”
According to the survey, people who walk slowly with normal weight are more at risk of serious illness and death than people who walk fast and obese.
In addition, the risk was uniformly high in slow walkers with normal weight and in slow obese walkers, according to the team behind the study.
Professor Yates added that fast walkers were generally shown to have good cardiovascular and cardiac health, which makes them more resilient.
These external stressors include viral infection, but this hypothesis has not yet been established for infectious diseases.
“Although large routine database studies have reported the association of obesity and frailty with Covid-19 results, routine clinical databases currently do not have data on measures of physical function or fitness,” said Yates.
“It is my opinion that ongoing public health and surveillance studies should consider incorporating simple measures of physical fitness, such as self-reported walking rhythm, in addition to BMI, as potential predictors of Covid-19 risk.”
Researchers at the University of Leicester studied 412,596 middle-aged UK Biobank participants and the relative link between body mass, walking pace and Covid-19. Stock Image
This could ‘ultimately allow for better life-saving prevention methods’.
The researchers noted a number of limitations in their study, saying that while the self-reported walking pace has been shown to be associated with cardiorespiratory fitness at the UK Biobank, it is subject to a possible reporting bias.
They say that, given this and the observational design, no definitive causal conclusions can be derived from their results.
The results were published in the International Journal of Obesity.