Mortality risk keeps falling up to about 6,000–8,000 steps a day at 60+, and 8,000–10,000 under 60
How many steps a day do you need?
The finding
Against the least active quarter (median 3,553 steps), hazard ratios were 0.60 at 5,801 steps, 0.55 at 7,842 and 0.47 at 10,901. Risk levelled off at about 6,000–8,000 steps for people 60 and over and 8,000–10,000 for those under 60.
- Authors
- Paluch AE, Bajpai S, Bassett DR, et al.
- Published
- The Lancet Public Health 7(3):e219–e228 · 2022
- Evidence
- Read in the primary source; numbers checked.
- Source
- doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00302-9
How it was studied
15 cohorts: 47,471 people, 3,013 deaths, median follow-up 7.1 years.
The numbers
Stepping rate (cadence) was not significant once total steps were accounted for.
What it does not show
Observational.
What Longstanding does with it
Steps are not one of the ten tests. Listed because it bears on the walking goals people choose for 85.