Association of stair use with risk of major chronic diseases.

INTRODUCTION: Physical inactivity is associated with a higher risk of chronic diseases. Regular stair use can contribute to increasing physical activity in the population. This study aimed to investigate the association between flights of stairs used daily at home and all-cause mortality and cause-specific incidence and mortality.

METHODS: Of the 502,628 UK Biobank participants recruited between 2007 and 2010, 442 027 (mean age 56 ± 8 years) had available data and were included in the analyses conducted in 2023. Participants were categorised based on flights of stairs climbed daily (1-5; 6-10; 11-15; >15). The disease-specific outcomes were cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and all-cause dementia. Cox proportional hazard models, adjusted for socio-demographic, lifestyle and health related confounding factors, were used to analyse the associations between stair use frequency and health outcomes.

RESULTS: Participants were followed up for a median of 10.9 years. Compared with participants who did not use stairs, climbing stairs >15 times/day was associated with lower risk of 8 of the 9 outcomes analysed. The magnitude of association ranged from 3% (95% CI 0.94; 0.99) lower risk for all-cause cancer to 51% (95% CI 0.39; 0.60) lower risk of COPD. Findings were similar for mortality outcomes with the hazard ratios ranging from 0.82 (95% CI 0.77; 0.87) for all-cause cancer to 0.46 (95% CI 0.23; 0.92) for COPD mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: Stair use was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality and cause-specific incidence and mortality independent of confounding factors, including adiposity and multimorbidity.