Objective

To evaluate the association between objectively measured walking speed and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults.

Methods

A 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.

Results

A 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.

Conclusion

We 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.