Regular, brisk walking lowers risk of stroke in women, study says

June 14, 2000
Web posted at: 10:43 a.m. EDT (1443 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Women who walk briskly for 30 minutes each day can reduce their chances of having a stroke by as much as 30 percent, according to a study reported this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The benefit is similar to that derived from more vigorous exercise like jogging, bicycling or racquetball, researchers said.

"Walking is an accessible, inexpensive and virtually injury-resistant form of physical activity that confers enormous health benefits," said Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, one of the study's authors and chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. "We know that a brisk walk for 30 minutes daily can help reduce your risk of type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis and certain cancers. Now we can add stroke to the list."

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The benefits from exercise are seen quickly, so a woman who doesn't start exercising until later in life still has a chance to cut her risk of stroke, Manson said. Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability in American women and men.

"The earlier you develop good habits, the better," Manson said. "But it's an important public-health point that it's never too late. Someone shouldn't think if they are 60-, 70-, 80-years-old they won't get the health benefits."

Manson emphasized that to receive the stroke-reduction benefits from walking, women must maintain a brisk pace -- a mile in 20 minutes or less. The movement should be fast enough to elevate the heart rate and breathing. Women who kept up the pace for 45 minutes to 60 minutes a day had an even greater reduction in risk -- 40 percent.

One way exercise cuts the risk of stroke is by lowering blood pressure and the chance of clotting, she said. Strokes are caused by lack of oxygen in the brain, often due to blood clotting or a blood vessel bursting.

Sometimes called a "brain attack," a stroke can kill or cause loss of muscular control, consciousness or sensation. It is characterized by dizziness, slurred speech or other symptoms that vary depending on the severity of brain damage.

The study, conducted in association with the Harvard School of Public Health, was the largest scientific effort to investigate the connection between physical activity and stroke in women, the authors said.

The study followed 72,488 female nurses aged 40 to 65 from 1986 to 1994. These women, who also were part of a larger public-health study, had no diagnosed cardiovascular disease or cancer at the start of the program. They completed detailed physical-activity questionnaires in 1986, 1988 and 1992, with additional follow-up in 1994.

The researchers said that although findings from previous studies correlating exercise and stroke risk had been inconsistent, their study found a strong benefit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on most days, but less than a quarter of Americans get that much.

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

CNN Medical Correspondent Rhonda Rowland andThe Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Journal of the American Medical Association
American Stroke Association…A Division of the American Heart Association
National Stroke Association

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