4,000 steps tied to lower mortality and cardiovascular disease risk, while more steps were tied to even better outcomes<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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FRIDAY, Oct. 24, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Among older women, achieving \u22654,000 steps per day even just one or two days per week is associated with better health outcomes, according to a study published online Oct. 21 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Rikuta Hamaya, from Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues examined the associations between the number of days per week achieving various daily step thresholds and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence in older women. The analysis included 13,547 women free of CVD and cancer (mean age, 71.8 years) who wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer for seven consecutive days between 2011 and 2015 and were then followed through 2024.<\/p>\n The researchers found that during a median follow-up of 10.9 years, 13.0 percent of women died and 5.1 percent developed CVD. There was an association between achieving \u22654000 steps\/day on one to two days\/week and three or more days\/week and lower mortality risk compared with zero days\/week (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.74 and 0.60, respectively). Corresponding results for CVD were 0.73 and 0.73, respectively. There was an inverse curvilinear dose-response relationship for mortality, with the risk for mortality further declining modestly with higher step thresholds (5,000, 6,000, or 7,000 steps). <\/p>\n \u201cThese findings provide additional evidence for considering including step metrics in the next physical activity guidelines, and that \u2018bunching\u2019 steps is a viable option for health,\u201d the authors write.<\/p>\n