TY - JOUR
T1 - Fifteen-year longitudinal trends in walking patterns and their impact on weight change
AU - Gordon-Larsen, Penny
AU - Hou, Ningqi
AU - Sidney, Steve
AU - Sternfeld, Barbara
AU - Lewis, Cora E.
AU - Jacobs, David R.
AU - Popkin, Barry M.
PY - 2009/1/1
Y1 - 2009/1/1
N2 - Background: Although walking is the most popular leisure-time activity for adults, few long-term, longitudinal studies have examined the association between walking, an affordable and accessible form of physical activity, and weight gain. Objective: The objective was to evaluate the association between changes in leisure-time walking and weight gain over a 15-y period. Design: Prospective data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study of 4995 men and women aged 18-30 y at baseline (1985-1986) from 4 US cities and reexamined 2, 5, 7, 10, and 15 y later. Sex-stratified, repeated-measures, conditional regression modeling with data from all 6 examination periods (n = 23,633 observations) was used to examine associations between walking and annualized 15-y weight change, with control for 15-y nonwalking physical activity, baseline weight (and their interaction), marital status, education, smoking, calorie intake, and baseline age, race, and field center. Results: Mean (±SE) baseline weights were 77.0 ± 0.3 kg (men) and 66.2 ± 0.3 kg (women), weight gain was ≈1 kg/y, and the mean duration of walking at baseline was <15 min/d. After accounting for nonwalking physical activity, calorie intake, and other covariates, we found a substantial association between walking and annualized weight change; the greatest association was for those with a larger baseline weight. For example, for women at the 75th percentile of baseline weight, 0.5 h of walking/d was associated with 8 kg less weight gain over 15 y compared with women with no leisure time walking. Conclusion: Walking throughout adulthood may attenuate the long-term weight gain that occurs in most adults.
AB - Background: Although walking is the most popular leisure-time activity for adults, few long-term, longitudinal studies have examined the association between walking, an affordable and accessible form of physical activity, and weight gain. Objective: The objective was to evaluate the association between changes in leisure-time walking and weight gain over a 15-y period. Design: Prospective data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study of 4995 men and women aged 18-30 y at baseline (1985-1986) from 4 US cities and reexamined 2, 5, 7, 10, and 15 y later. Sex-stratified, repeated-measures, conditional regression modeling with data from all 6 examination periods (n = 23,633 observations) was used to examine associations between walking and annualized 15-y weight change, with control for 15-y nonwalking physical activity, baseline weight (and their interaction), marital status, education, smoking, calorie intake, and baseline age, race, and field center. Results: Mean (±SE) baseline weights were 77.0 ± 0.3 kg (men) and 66.2 ± 0.3 kg (women), weight gain was ≈1 kg/y, and the mean duration of walking at baseline was <15 min/d. After accounting for nonwalking physical activity, calorie intake, and other covariates, we found a substantial association between walking and annualized weight change; the greatest association was for those with a larger baseline weight. For example, for women at the 75th percentile of baseline weight, 0.5 h of walking/d was associated with 8 kg less weight gain over 15 y compared with women with no leisure time walking. Conclusion: Walking throughout adulthood may attenuate the long-term weight gain that occurs in most adults.
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U2 - 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26147
DO - 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26147
M3 - Article
C2 - 19056560
AN - SCOPUS:58149373782
SN - 0002-9165
VL - 89
SP - 19
EP - 26
JO - American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
JF - American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
IS - 1
ER -