Slow-walking heart patients on the fast track to hospital

HEART disease sufferers are more likely to stay out of hospital if they are fast walkers. Among more than 1,000 adults with heart disease and high blood pressure, half of the slowest walkers needed hospital treatment over three years.

For those whose pace was faster, fewer than a third ended up in hospital, with those who did, being discharged about a fortnight earlier.

The results follow evidence showing people who walk more slowly may be at greater risk of dementia.

Walking speed may be a red flag for health problems because unfit people have less oxygen uptake, which can make them slower on their feet. The study’s lead author, Dr Carlotta Merlo from the University of Ferrara in Italy, said: ‘The faster the walking speed, the lower the risk of hospitalisation and the shorter the length of hospital stay.’

The three-year study involved 1,978 people with high blood pressure, of whom 85% also had coronary heart disease and 15% also had valve disease.

‘Since reduced walking speed is a marker of limited mobility, which has been linked to decreased physical activity, we assume that fast walkers in the study are also fast walkers in real life,’ Dr Merlo said. Explaining how someone’s pace could predict their chances of future illness, she added: ‘Reduced walking speed is a marker of limited mobility, which is a precursor of disability, disease, and loss of autonomy.’

Participants were asked to walk one kilometre on a treadmill at what they considered a moderate intensity.

Those classed as slow walkers had an average speed of 2.6kph, intermediate walkers 3.8kph and fast walkers 5.1kph.

Over the following three years, 51% of the slow walkers had at least one trip to hospital, compared to only 44% of the intermediate walkers and 31% of the fast walkers.

Members of the fast-walking group spent 990 days in hospital during the three years, while the slow walkers spent as many as 4,186 days.

The average hospital stay for fast walkers was nine days, but slow walkers stayed there an average of 23 days.

Intermediate walkers were admitted for a fortnight on average. The results, presented at EuroPrevent 2018, the annual conference of the European Society of Cardiology, show each 1km per hour increase in walking speed cuts the chances of being hospitalised in the next three years by almost a fifth. The slow walkers in the study were older, heavier and more likely to have high blood sugar and cholesterol as well as high blood pressure, according to the results.

They were also published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Dr Merlo said: ‘Walking is the most popular type of exercise in adults. It is free, does not require special training, and can be done almost anywhere.

‘Even short, but regular, walks have substantial health benefits. Our study shows that the benefits are even greater when the pace of walking is increased.’

The results were presented at the society’s annual conference in Munich.

‘Also poses higher dementia risk’