Associations of steps per day and peak cadence with arterial stiffness in older adults

Background: There is evidence showing an inverse association between steps/day and arterial stiffness in adults. However, the relationship of steps/day and peak cadence with arterial stiffness is poorly understood in older adults. This study aimed to investigate the association between steps/day and peak cadence with arterial stiffness in older adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 222 community-dwelling older adults (66 ± 5 years; 81.5% females; 70.3% with hypertension). Arterial stiffness was measured by aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV). Steps/day and peak cadence were assessed by accelerometry. The participants were categorized according to the number of steps/day: sedentary <5000; low active 5000–7499; active 7500–9999; highly active 10,000+. Peak cadence was defined as the average of steps/day of the highest 30 min (not necessarily consecutive) for all valid days. Generalized linear models were used for data analyses. Results: The active (β = −0.34 m/s, 95% CI –0.60, −0.08) and highly active (β = −0.51 m/s, 95% CI –0.83, −0.20) groups had lower aPWV compared to the sedentary group. No significant difference was found between the low active group and the sedentary group (β = −0.21 m/s, 95% CI –0.46, 0.05). Every increment of 1000 steps/day was associated with a decrease of 0.05 m/s in the aPWV (95% CI –0.08, −0.02). Every increment of 10 steps/min in peak 30-min cadence was associated with a decrease of 0.05 m/s in aPWV (95% CI –0.09, −0.01). Conclusions: Our findings show that easy-to-use proxies of the volume (steps/day) and intensity (peak cadence) of ambulatory behavior are inversely associated with arterial stiffness in older adults. The inverse association of steps/day and peak cadence with arterial stiffness is dose-response.