Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Slow walking speed in midlife linked with faster aging

Slow walking speed in midlife linked with faster aging

A new study finds that a slow walking speed at the age of 45 correlates with premature cognitive and physical aging, and that slow gait may predict aging.

New research finds that people who tend to walk more slowly at the age of 45 present with signs of premature accelerated aging, both physically and cognitively.

Walking speed may be a powerful predictor of lifespan and health.

A recent study, reported on by Medical News Today, found that the faster a person walks, the longer they may live, with older adults benefitting the most from a brisk pace.

Medical professionals have long used gait speed as a marker of health and fitness among older adults, but the new research asks a slightly different question: Does a slow gait speed in midlife indicate and predict accelerated aging?

Line J. H. Rasmussen, Ph.D., a researcher in the department of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, in Durham, NC, and colleagues set out to answer this question by examining data from 904 study participants.

Rasmussen and the team published their findings in the journal JAMA Network Open.


Cognition, overall health, and gait speed

The researchers assessed participants' data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a longitudinal cohort study of people living in Dunedin, New Zealand.

The participants have undergone periodic testing for most of their lives. The researchers have been tracking the participants' general health and behavior, with assessments beginning when participants were 3 years old.

At the time, a pediatric neurologist used standard intelligence tests to assess the children's neurocognitive performance, including their receptive language, motor skills, and emotional and behavioral regulation.

The researchers had access to data such as IQ scores -including processing speed, working memory, perceptual reasoning, and verbal comprehension.

The researchers evaluated the now-adult participants' walking speeds under three conditions: usual gait speed, dual task gait speed - wherein the participants had to walk as usual while reciting the alphabet - and maximum gait speed.

The team also evaluated the physical function of the adults by asking them to self-report in a survey and complete a series of physical tasks that tested their grip strength, balance, and hand-eye coordination, among other factors.

To assess accelerated aging, the team looked at a variety of biomarkers, including body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, cardiorespiratory fitness, total cholesterol level, triglycerides level, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, creatinine clearance, blood urea level, C-reactive protein level, white blood cell count, and gum and teeth health.

The researchers also evaluated the adults' brain health using MRI scans.

Additionally, the scientists brought in an independent panel of 8 people who assessed the ages of the participants using standardized photos of their faces at age 45.


Worse health, faster aging in slow walkers

The MRI scans revealed that slow walkers, at the age of 45, had a smaller brain volume, more cortical thinning, smaller cortical areas, and more white matter lesions. In other words, their brains appeared to be older than their biological age.

The independent panel also tended to assign an older age to these participants, based on their facial appearance in the photographs.

Overall, the cardiorespiratory health, immune health, and gum and teeth health of the slow-walking participants also fared worse than those who walked faster. The correlation was particularly evident in the participants' maximum walking speeds.

"The thing that's really striking is that this is in 45-year-old people, not the geriatric patients who are usually assessed with such measures," says Rasmussen, the study's lead author.

Interestingly, the scores for IQ, receptive language, motor skills, and emotional and behavioral regulation of the children at age 3 also predicted walking speed. Those who would become slow walkers as adults fared more poorly on these measures.

"Doctors know that slow walkers in their 70s and 80s tend to die sooner than fast walkers their same age," adds senior author Terrie E. Moffitt, the Nannerl O. Keohane University professor of psychology at Duke University and senior author of the study.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×