Research by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre has reported that slow walkers are four (4) times more likely to die from covid-19. The study titled “Obesity, walking pace and risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality: analysis of UK Biobank” led by Professor Tom Yates at the University of Leicester reported that slow walkers are twice at risk of contracting a severe version of the virus.
The study published in the International Journal of Obesity postulated that Obesity is an emerging risk factor for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). After examining many samples, the researchers concluded that pedestrians of “normal” weight were 3.75 times more likely to die from the virus than pedestrians.
Data were collected from more than 400,000 middle-aged people for the study. A total of 412,596 people participated in the study and reported the data to the UK’s biobank, biomedical database and research.
“Self-reported walking pace could be used to predict whether someone was at higher risk from the virus,” said Prof Tom Yates.
This study was conducted to examine the relationship between the severity of Covid-19 disease and mortality (BMI) and body mass index.
According to the BBC, slow walking is seen as less than three kilometres per hour (4.8 km), speed / average speed is three and four kilometres per hour (6.4 km) and speed of more than four kilometres per hour. within hours. The risk is greater as slow-moving people with normal weight and people who walk slowly with obesity.
Limitations of the Study
The study has some limitations, as walking pace data were gotten from individuals according to their choice and not by monitoring all the patients involved. Although, the researchers note that the reported walking pace may be biased in the report and therefore will not be able to draw any conclusions.
