SynthesisJournal of sport and health science2021
The relationships between step count and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events: A dose-response meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of sport and health science, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Synthesis and Validity of Accelerometer Devices and Methods Used in Epidemiological Studies of Physical Activity Bout Duration and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2026Pooled it
- Associations Between Exercise Training, Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Mortality: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Prospective Association of Daily Steps With Cardiovascular Disease: A Harmonized Meta-Analysis.Circulation · 2023Pooled it
- Effect of Gamification Plus Automated Coaching to Increase Physical Activity Among Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease: The GAMEPAD Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Trial
- Cost-Effectiveness of Gamification, Financial Incentives, or Both to Increase Physical Activity Among Patients With Elevated Risk for Cardiovascular Disease.Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes · 2025Trial
- What motivates participants: a qualitative analysis of gamification and financial incentives to increase physical activity.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- Are cash incentives always king? A randomized controlled trial evaluating hedonic versus cash incentives (TEH-C).Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Limitations of Daily Step Count for Assessing Health in Older Adults: The Need to Consider Walking Intensity.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The impact of daily steps on polycystic ovary syndrome patients.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Improving Affective Associations With Physical Activity via a Message-Based mHealth Intervention (WalkToJoy): Proof-of-Concept Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Daily steps, cardiorespiratory fitness, and remnant cholesterol in schoolchildren: mediation effects for cardiovascular prevention.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Daily Heart Rate per Step: A Wearables Metric Associated With Cardiovascular Disease in a Cross-Sectional Study of theJournal of the American Heart Association · 2025Observational
- Discretizing multiple continuous predictors with U-shaped relationships with lnOR: introducing the recursive gradient scanning method in clinical and epidemiological research.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Article
- Do leaders walk the extra mile? The contribution of personal and work-related factors on daily step count increase in a university team step challenge.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Efficacy of exergaming dance and aerobic dance on young adults' enjoyment, situational motivation, self-efficacy, and steps.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Improvements in Walking During Subacute Stroke Rehabilitation Translate to Physical Activity at the Chronic Stage: A Sub-Analysis From the Phys Stroke Trial.Brain & NeuroRehabilitation · 2024Article
- Multi-Activity Step Counting Algorithm Using Deep Learning Foot Flat Detection with an IMU Inside the Sole of a Shoe.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Relationship between activity and sleep, as measured through a wearable accelerometer, and appropriate cardioverter defibrillator interventions: a prospective SafeHeart substudy.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2024Article
- Do the associations of daily steps with mortality and incident cardiovascular disease differ by sedentary time levels? A device-based cohort study.British journal of sports medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA goal of 10,000 steps per day is widely advocated, but there is little evidence to support that goal. Our purpose was to examine the dose-response relationships between step count and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease risk.
methodsCochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, OVID, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for studies published before July 9, 2021, that evaluated the association between daily steps and at least 1 outcome.
resultsSixteen publications (12 related to all-cause mortality, 5 related to cardiovascular disease; and 1 article contained 2 outcomes: both all-cause death and cardiovascular events) were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. There was evidence of a nonlinear dose-response relationship between step count and risk of all-cause mortality or cardiovascular disease (p = 0.002 and p = 0.014 for nonlinearity, respectively). When we restricted the analyses to accelerometer-based studies, the third quartile had a 40.36% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 35.05% lower risk of cardiovascular event than the first quartile (all-cause mortality: Q1 = 4183 steps/day, Q3 = 8959 steps/day; cardiovascular event: Q1 = 3500 steps/day, Q3 = 9500 steps/day; respectively).
conclusionOur meta-analysis suggests inverse associations between higher step count and risk of premature death and cardiovascular events in middle-aged and older adults, with nonlinear dose-response patterns.
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Registered trials
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.