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The objectively measured walking speed and risk of hypertension in Chinese older adults: a prospective cohort study

Hypertension Research volume 47, pages 322–330 (2024)Cite this article

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the longitudinal association between objectively measured walking speed and hypertension and to explore the potential effect modification of obesity on this association in Chinese older adults. The data from the Chinese Health and Retirement Prospective Cohort Study (CHARLS) during 2011–2015 was used. Walking speed was assessed by measuring the participants’ usual gait in a 2.5 m course, and it was divided into four groups according to the quartiles (Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4). A total of 2733 participants ≥60 years old were eligible for the analyses. After a follow-up of 4 years, 26.9% occurred hypertension. An inverse association was observed between walking speed and the risk of hypertension. There was an interaction between body mass index (BMI) and walking speed for the hypertension risk (P = 0.010). the association of walking speed with hypertension was stronger in overweight and obese participants (Q2, OR: 0.54, 95%CI = 0.34–0.85, P = 0.009; Q3, OR: 0.69, 95%CI = 0.44–1.08, P = 0.106; Q4, OR: 0.62, 95%CI = 0.39–0.98, P = 0.039). However, this association was not significant among lean ones. A similar trend was observed for systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In conclusion, higher walking speed was longitudinally associated with a lower risk of hypertension in Chinese older adults, especially among overweight and obese participants.

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The data underlying this paper cannot be shared publicly considering the privacy of individuals that participated in the study.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the participants included in this project.

Funding

Funding

GH is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82003521).GW is supported by the 2020 Guangdong Education Science 13th Five-Year Plan Project (2020GJK101) and the 2020 Teaching Research Project of Guangzhou Sport University (20YB24).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

    Biying Zhou, Zhenger Fang, Guangjun Zheng, Xia Chen, Mingliang Liu, Lei Zuo & Chunxia Jing

  2. Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposure and Health, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

    Chunxia Jing

  3. Volleyball Teaching and Research Office of Sports Training Institute, Guangzhou Sport University, 510500, Guangzhou, China

    Ge Wang

  4. School of Athletic Training, Guangzhou Sport University, 510500, Guangzhou, China

    Yuhua Gao

  5. Key Laboratory of Sports Technique, Tactics and Physical Function of General Administration of Sport of China, Scientific Research Center, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China

    Yuhui Bai & Shuang Peng

  6. School of Sport and Health Sciences, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China

    Yuhui Bai & Shuang Peng

  7. Department of Parasitic Disease and Endemic Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China

    Haiyan Chen

  8. Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center of Public Health Detection and Assessment, School of Public Health, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China

    Guang Hao

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  1. Biying Zhou
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Contributions

GH, SP, and HC were responsible for conceptualization, methodology, supervision, and editing sections. BZ, ZF, and GZ tasked with the literature search, data collection, formal analysis, investigation, visualization, and original draft writing sections. All the authors critically reviewed and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Haiyan Chen, Shuang Peng or Guang Hao.

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Zhou, B., Fang, Z., Zheng, G. et al. The objectively measured walking speed and risk of hypertension in Chinese older adults: a prospective cohort study. Hypertens Res 47, 322–330 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-023-01438-0

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