Walking is associated with a reduced risk of death from pneumonia

This study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology 2007 Nov;17(6):194-202

 

Study title and authors:

Risk and protective factors related to mortality from pneumonia among middleaged and elderly community residents: the JACC Study.

Inoue Y, Koizumi A, Wada Y, Iso H, Watanabe Y, Date C, Yamamoto A, Kikuchi S, Inaba Y, Toyoshima H, Tamakoshi A.

Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.

 

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18094518

The study investigated various factors related to the death rate from pneumonia. The study included 110,792 individuals (aged 40-79 years) who were followed for 15 years.

Regarding walking, the study found:
(a) Those who walked less than 1/2 hour per day had a 30% increased risk of death from pneumonia compared to those who walked 1/2 hour  per day.
(b) Those who walked more than one hour per day had a 30% decreased risk of death from pneumonia compared to those who walked 1/2 hour per day.

The results from the study show that an increase in walking time is associated with a reduced risk of death from pneumonia.