Brisk Walking Helps to Reduce Risk of Chronic Diseases in Hypertensive Patients, claims study

A recent study published in the journal of Preventive Medicine revealed that walking at a brisk pace may significantly reduce the risk of developing major chronic diseases in individuals with hypertension. The research included a total of 160,470 participants from the UK Biobank and focused the relationship between walking pace, low-grade inflammation and the incidence of diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

The study employed the Cox proportional hazards model to analyze the data and found that a faster walking pace correlated with a lower risk of overall cancer, specific cancers (including liver, lung, and endometrial cancers), various CVD events (like angina, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, myocardial infarction, peripheral vascular disease and stroke) and T2DM. Hazard ratios for these diseases ranged from 0.42 to 0.91 by indicating a substantial decrease in risk for brisk walkers.

The outcomes of this study explored the role of low-grade inflammation in these associations. This points toward the higher levels of low-grade inflammation being linked to increased risks of the aforementioned diseases with the exception of liver cancer and atrial fibrillation. The mediation analyses suggested that low-grade inflammation partially explained the relationship between walking pace and reduced risks of lung cancer, T2DM and most CVD events (excluding atrial fibrillation). The proportion of risk reduction mediated by inflammation ranged from 2.0% to 9.8%.

Also, brisk walking significantly decreased the risk of overall cancer and specific cancers such as liver, lung and endometrial cancers in hypertensive individuals. A faster walking pace was associated with a lower incidence of all CVD events, except for atrial fibrillation. The risk of T2DM was markedly reduced in the individuals who walked briskly. Low-grade inflammation was observed to increase the risk of most chronic diseases, yet the benefits of brisk walking were partially mediated by reducing this inflammation.

The study highlights the potential health benefits of increasing walking pace for people with hypertension. This suggests that engaging in brisk walking can be a simple, accessible way to reduce the risk of major chronic diseases, partly by reducing low-grade inflammation. These findings could inform public health recommendations and individual strategies for managing hypertension and reducing the burden of chronic illnesses.

Source:

Peng, Y., Liu, F., Wang, P., Wang, X., Si, C., Gong, J., Zhou, H., Zhang, M., & Song, F. (2024). Association between walking pace and risks of major chronic diseases in individuals with hypertension based on a prospective study in UK Biobank: Involvement of inflammation. In Preventive Medicine (Vol. 184, p. 107986). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2024.107986