The speed at which you walk speaks of your risk against COVID-19

Scientists from Leicester Center for Biomedical Research discovered that the speed at which you walk speaks of your risk against Covid-19. They indicated that people who have a slow pace have a probability of almost four times greater to die of the disease and more than twice to suffer from serious infection.

To carry out the study to verify these results, data from 412,596 participants middle-aged from the UK Biobank. The authors of the work published in the International Journal of Obesity examined the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and self-reported walking pace. And then they associated it with the risk of suffering a serious illness from Covid-19 or death from that cause.

The BMI is a data that is calculated in based on weight and height of a person. It is considered a normal value if it is between 18.5-24.9 kg / m2, overweight of 25-29.9 kg / m2 and obesity an index of more than 30 kg / m2. While under 18.5 kg / m2 it is considered underweight, however, these cases were excluded from the study because they presented in insufficient number.

Regarding the self-reported usual walking pace, it was divided into slow (constant-average (4.8 to 6.4 km / hm) or energetic (> 6.4 km / h).

During the analysis, it was found that slower normal-weight walkers are almost 2.5 times more likely to develop severe Covid-19. Like, 3.7 times more likely to die from the virus than fast walkers, also with normal weight.

Obesity and frailty were already known to be key risk factors for Covid-19 results. However, this is the first study to show that slow walkers have a much higher risk of suffering serious results, regardless of your weight.

Walking fast shows good health

Fast walkers generally have good cardiovascular health. So they are also more resistant to external stressors, including viral infection. Although this hypothesis has not yet been established for infectious diseases according to experts.

Large database studies reported the relationship of the obesity and frailty with the results of Covid-19. However, there are currently no data on measures of function or physical state.

Finally, the scientists suggested that ongoing public health and research surveillance should consider incorporating simple measures of physical fitness. Such as the walking pace self-reported, in addition to the BMI, as possible predictors risk of the results of Covid-19. Ultimately they could allow for better life-saving prevention methods.

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research continues to discover more risk factors for covid-19