Daily steps and life expectancy: a life table analysis of NHANES 2005-2006 and 2011-2014

Daily steps and life expectancy: a life table analysis of NHANES 2005-2006 and 2011-2014 | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Daily steps and life expectancy: a life table analysis of NHANES 2005-2006 and 2011-2014 Tongyu Ma, Jingwen Zhuang, Teng Liu, Simon Holzapfel, Jianbo Lei, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7654206/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The association between daily steps, an accessible and comprehensible metric of physical activity, and life expectancy remains unclear. This study aims to quantify the dose-response relationship between daily steps and life expectancy in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. This cohort study included 8317 adults aged ≥ 40 from the 2005–2006 and 2011–2014 NHANES cycles. Steps were objectively measured using accelerometers over seven consecutive days. Mortality through December 2019 was ascertained via the National Death Index. Life expectancy was estimated by converting hazard ratios (HRs) into differences of life years using life tables from the 2018 National Vital Statistics, rescaled with HRs and population prevalences from NHANES. Over 8.7 years, 1281 deaths occurred. Compared with < 4000 steps/d, life expectancy at age 40 was greater by 5.4 (95% CI: 4.4–6.5), 9.0 (7.6–10.7), 11.9 (10.0–14), 13.6 (11.4–15.9), and 14.8 (12.7–17.1) years for individuals walking 4000–5999, 6000–7999, 8000–9999, 10000–11999, and ≥ 12000 steps/d, respectively. On average, each additional 1000 steps/d at age 40 corresponded to a 1.4-year (1.0-1.8) gain. If all insufficiently active individuals (< 8000 steps/d) increased to 8000 steps/d, life expectancy could theoretically rise by 4.8 years. In conclusion, higher daily steps associated with extended life expectancy among U.S. adults. Health sciences/Biomarkers/Predictive markers Health sciences/Health care/Public health Health sciences/Health care/Quality of life Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementryFileLifetableTotalPopulation.xlsx Supplementary file of the life table model for the total population SupplementaryfileFigureTable.docx Supplementary file of table S1 and Figure S1-S12 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7654206","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":519273981,"identity":"0e5f1818-6a8c-451f-8430-cbf46d5b30a7","order_by":0,"name":"Tongyu 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2011-2014","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7654206/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7654206/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe association between daily steps, an accessible and comprehensible metric of physical activity, and life expectancy remains unclear. This study aims to quantify the dose-response relationship between daily steps and life expectancy in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. This cohort study included 8317 adults aged\u0026thinsp;\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;40 from the 2005\u0026ndash;2006 and 2011\u0026ndash;2014 NHANES cycles. Steps were objectively measured using accelerometers over seven consecutive days. Mortality through December 2019 was ascertained via the National Death Index. Life expectancy was estimated by converting hazard ratios (HRs) into differences of life years using life tables from the 2018 National Vital Statistics, rescaled with HRs and population prevalences from NHANES. Over 8.7 years, 1281 deaths occurred. Compared with \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;4000 steps/d, life expectancy at age 40 was greater by 5.4 (95% CI: 4.4\u0026ndash;6.5), 9.0 (7.6\u0026ndash;10.7), 11.9 (10.0\u0026ndash;14), 13.6 (11.4\u0026ndash;15.9), and 14.8 (12.7\u0026ndash;17.1) years for individuals walking 4000\u0026ndash;5999, 6000\u0026ndash;7999, 8000\u0026ndash;9999, 10000\u0026ndash;11999, and \u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;12000 steps/d, respectively. On average, each additional 1000 steps/d at age 40 corresponded to a 1.4-year (1.0-1.8) gain. If all insufficiently active individuals (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;8000 steps/d) increased to 8000 steps/d, life expectancy could theoretically rise by 4.8 years. In conclusion, higher daily steps associated with extended life expectancy among U.S. adults.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Daily steps and life expectancy: a life table analysis of NHANES 2005-2006 and 2011-2014","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-15 18:04:30","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7654206/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"6ab39f04-2446-4d57-b7d9-951c39112090","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 15th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":55178607,"name":"Health sciences/Biomarkers/Predictive markers"},{"id":55178608,"name":"Health sciences/Health care/Public health"},{"id":55178609,"name":"Health sciences/Health care/Quality of life"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-20T11:15:53+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-15 18:04:30","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7654206","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7654206","identity":"rs-7654206","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}