Increasing moderate activity could cut stroke risk by 40%, research suggests

Older adults who increase the amount of moderate activity from less than three minutes a day to at least 14 minutes could cut their risk of stroke by more than 40%, research suggests.

Being sedentary, whether sitting for long periods or otherwise not moving for lengthy bouts, has been linked to an increased risk of conditions from heart disease to obesity, with the World Health Organization stating that physical inactivity is a leading cause of disease and disability.

Writing in the journal Jama Network Open, researchers in the US reported how they analysed data collected through activity trackers worn for up to seven days by 7,607 participants within a period from 2009 to 2013.

The participants, who were on average just over 63 years old, were then followed up for an average of 7.4 years, in which time 286 of them had a stroke.

The analysis also suggested that four to five hours a day of light-intensity activity could lower stroke risk.

Separately, the team added that the most inactive participants, who spent more than 13 out of the 16 recorded hours a day being sedentary, had a 44% higher risk of stroke than those who spent fewer than 11.8 hours in this state.

Naveed Sattar, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, who was not involved in the work, cautioned that the study may slightly overestimate the benefit linking activity levels to stroke risk, in part as people with minor, often undetected, prior strokesmay be able to walk less.