Nonlinear Inverse Association Seen for Step Count, Peak Cadence With MACE

THURSDAY, Aug. 7, 2025 (HealthDay News) — There are nonlinear, inverse associations for step count and peak cadence with the risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) among individuals with hypertension, according to a study published online Aug. 6 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Sonia W.M. Cheng, Ph.D., from the University of Sydney, and colleagues obtained data for participants with established hypertension from the U.K. Biobank accelerometry substudy. Participants wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Dose-response associations were examined for daily step count and peak 30-minute cadence with the risk for MACE among 36,192 participants.

The researchers observed nonlinear inverse dose-response associations for daily step count and peak 30-minute cadence with the risk for MACE during a follow-up of 7.8 years. The average risks for MACE, heart failure, myocardial infarction, and stroke were 17.1, 22.4, 9.3, and 24.5 percent lower, respectively, with each 1,000-step increase in daily step count. For people with and without hypertension, the magnitude of associations with increasing step count and stepping intensity was comparable for overall MACE, heart failure, and stroke, but lower for myocardial infarction.

“This study is one of the first to demonstrate a dose-response relationship between daily step count and major problems of the heart and blood vessels,” supervising author Emmanuel Stamatakis, Ph.D., also from the University of Sydney, said in a statement. “In a nutshell, we found that, if you live with high blood pressure, the more you walk with greater intensity, the lower your risk for future serious cardiovascular events.”

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