Overview
- Mass General Brigham researchers tracked about 13,500 older U.S. women who wore accelerometers for seven days between 2011 and 2015 and were followed for roughly a decade, with results published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
- Reaching at least 4,000 steps on one to two days in a week was associated with a 26% lower risk of death and a 27% lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with never reaching that threshold.
- Meeting 4,000 steps on three or more days a week was linked to about a 40% lower mortality risk, while reductions in cardiovascular risk were similar to the two-day group.
- Associations weakened after adjusting for average daily steps, indicating total weekly step volume drives most of the benefit and that irregular or “bunched” activity patterns can still be effective.
- The study is observational and drawn largely from older, white women with higher socioeconomic status, and the authors call for broader research and consideration of step-count metrics in future activity guidelines.