Prospective associations of daily step count and stepping intensity with overall and type-specific major adverse cardiovascular events in people with hypertension

Abstract Aims To examine the dose-response associations of step count and stepping intensity with risk of cardiovascular mortality and incidence of heart failure (HF), myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke (major adverse cardiovascular events, MACE) in people with hypertension. Methods and results Data were obtained from participants with established hypertension from the UK Biobank accelerometry sub-study. Participants wore a wrist-worn accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Dose-response associations of daily step count and peak 30-min cadence were examined with risk of MACE. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) associated with 1000-step increases in daily step count were calculated. In 36 192 participants [mean (SD) age 64 (7) years, 48% male, follow-up period 7.8 years], non-linear inverse dose-response associations with risk of MACE were observed for daily step count and peak 30-min cadence. Every 1000-step increase in daily step count led to an average lower risk of MACE, HF, MI, and stroke of 17.1% (95% CI: 10.2–23.2), 22.4% (95% CI: 11.0–31.7), 9.3% (95% CI: −2.8 to 19.6), and 24.5% (95% CI: 5.3–39.0), respectively. The magnitude of associations with increasing step count and stepping intensity was comparable between people with and without hypertension for risk of overall MACE, HF, and stroke, but of lower magnitude for MI. Conclusion Incremental 1000-step increases in daily step count, up to 10 000 steps/day, were associated with substantially lower MACE risk in adults with hypertension, particularly when accrued at a higher stepping intensity.