Associated Factors of Time Spent Walking for Community-Dwelling Stroke Survivors

This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with the time that community-dwelling stroke survivors spent walking.

We analyzed the cross-sectional data of 1534 community-dwelling stroke survivors from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Complex-sample logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with insufficient walking time (<90 min/wk). The mean time spent walking was examined according to age, sex, resistance exercise level, and self-reported disability using complex-sample general linear models.

Women (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-2.3), current smokers (OR 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.8), insufficient resistance exercise (OR 2.3; 95% CI, 1.5-3.5), and those with rural residences (OR 1.4; 95% CI, 1.0-1.9) were independently associated with insufficient walking time. The mean time spent walking was significantly lower in older adults aged ≥65 years than in young adults aged <65 years (200.0 ± 42.0 min/wk vs 287.2 ± 36.6 min/wk, P = .002), in women than in men (200.9 ± 44.9 vs 286.2 ± 37.7 min/wk, P = .027), and in individuals engaging in insufficient resistance exercise compared with those engaging in sufficient resistance exercise (203.2 ± 36.2 vs 283.9 ± 43.0 min/wk, P = .008). The mean walking time did not vary according to the presence of self-reported disabilities.

Environmental and personal factors are associated with insufficient walking time in community-dwelling stroke survivors.