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Updated: May 31, 2026
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Published on: April 13, 2016
Patterns of adult stepping cadence in the 2005-2006 NHANES
Catrine Tudor-Locke1, Sarah M Camhi, Claudia Leonardi
1Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA. Tudor-Locke@pbrc.edu
Objective:
Laboratory studies of adult walking behavior have consistently found that a cadence of 100 steps/min is a reasonable threshold for moderate intensity. The purpose of this study was to determine cadence patterns in free-living adults, and in particular, time spent at increasing cadence increments including 100 steps/min and beyond.
Method:
3744 adults ≥20 years provided at least one valid day (minimally 10/24 h of wear) of minute-by-minute accelerometer-determined step data during the 2005-2006 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Means for time spent (min/day) and steps/day were calculated for 8 cadence categories including zero and each incremental cadence band thereafter beginning with 1-19 through 100-119, and beyond to 120+steps/min.
Results:
U.S. adults accumulate ≅4.8 h/day of zero cadence during wearing time, ≅8.7 h between 1 and 59 steps/min, ≅16 min/day at cadences of 60-79 steps/min, ≅8 min at 80-99 steps/min, ≅5 min at 100-119 steps/min, and ≅2 min at 120+steps/min.
Conclusion:
Self-selected walking at 100+steps/min was a rare phenomenon in this large free-living sample of the U.S. population, but study participants did accumulate ≅30 min/day at cadences of 60+steps/min.
