Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33543604›Full record

ArticleJournal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle2021

Stair climbing and mortality: a prospective cohort study from the UK Biobank.

Miguel A Sanchez-Lastra, Ding Ding, Knut-Eirik Dalene, Borja Del Pozo Cruz, Ulf Ekelund, Jakob Tarp

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Miguel A Sanchez-LastraDepartment of Special Didactics, Faculty of Education and Sport Sciences, University of Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain.ORCID 0000-0001-7457-3475
Ding DingPrevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
Knut-Eirik DaleneDepartment of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
Borja Del Pozo CruzMotivation and Behaviour Research Program, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia.
Ulf EkelundDepartment of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
Jakob TarpDepartment of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, Oslo, Norway.ORCID 0000-0002-9186-7077
Norwegian School of Sport Sciences · NOAustralian Catholic University · AUNorwegian Institute of Public Health · NOThe University of Sydney · AUUniversidade de Vigo · ES

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRegular stair climbing has the potential to lower the risk of premature death, but current evidence is scarce. We aimed to examine whether daily stair climbing is associated with lower risk of all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality.

methodsUsing the UK Biobank cohort, we extracted information of self-reported daily flights of stairs climbed at home, categorized as none, 1 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15, and ≥16 flights per day. Associations between flights of stair climbed per day and mortality were examined as hazard ratios (HRs) from Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for demographic, clinical, and behavioural covariates including time spent in other physical activities. We calculated the restricted mean survival time as an absolute measure of association. The risk of residual confounding was examined using propensity score matching and by using lung cancer as negative control outcome. Participants were followed from baseline (2006-2010) through 31 March 2020.

resultsA total of 280 423 participants (median follow-up 11.1 years, during which 9445 deaths occurred) were included. Compared with not climbing any stairs, climbing more than five flights of stairs at home per day was associated with lower risk of premature mortality. The lowest risk was found for those climbing 6-10 flights per day: 0.91; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85, 0.98, translated to approximately 44 to 55 days of additional survival. A similar pattern was found after applying propensity score matching and for cancer mortality (6-10 flights per day HR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.80, 0.97), but not for CVD mortality (6-10 flights per day HR: 1.08; 95% CI: 0.91, 1.29). The association between stair climbing and lung cancer was similar to that of all-cause mortality.

conclusionsClimbing more than five flights of stairs at home per day was associated with a lower risk of all-cause and cancer mortality, but not CVD mortality, compared with those who did not take the stairs. The magnitude of the association was small and appeared susceptible to residual confounding. It is unlikely that at-home stair climbing is sufficient physical activity stimuli to lower the risk of premature mortality.

Indexed as

Stair ClimbingBiological Specimen BanksCohort StudiesHumansProspective StudiesUnited Kingdomepidemiologymortalityphysical activitystair walking

Identifiers

PMID33543604
PMCPMC8061405
OpenAlexW3128118530

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.