People’s walking speed may indicate their risk of becoming severely ill from the coronavirus, according to an epidemiological study in the UK, Reuters reported.
After examining data of over 400,000 patients in the UK Biobank, researchers found that obese people have a 49% higher risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 than non-obese patients. But what surprised the researchers was that slow walkers had the highest risk of developing severe coronavirus symptoms regardless of their weight.
Those of normal weight who normally walked at a slow pace of less than 3 miles per hour (4.8 km per hour) had over double the risk of developing severe coronavirus symptoms compared to those who normally walk at a fast pace of over 4 miles (6.4 km) per hour.
Walking speed is regularly used as an indicator of physical capabilities and is viewed as a predictor of future disease, disability and even life expectancy.
“Self-reported walking pace, a simple measure of functional fitness, appears to be a risk factor for severe COVID-19 that is independent of obesity,” the researchers stated.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
DIdi they age into consideration? Older people walk slower as when people age their muscles stiffen and older people are susceptible to the virus due to age thus skewing the results and possibly rendering them meaningless.
In general people who are healthier probably walk faster. Also urbanites walk faster and probably have better ,access to doctors