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Many factors are associated with risk for stroke. To confirm previous findings in a single cohort of older men and women that slow walking speed is a predictor of stroke, Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) investigators analyzed baseline walk test performance in a subset of women to determine its association with likelihood of ischemic stroke. A total of 13,000 postmenopausal women (age range at baseline, 50–79) completed a timed 6-meter walk test.
Walking speed was <1.06 m/second for the slowest women (tertile 1) and >1.24 m/second for the fastest women (tertile 3). Compared with women in the fastest tertile, the slowest women were older, shorter, and heavier; were more likely to be smokers, hypertensive, diabetic, hypercholesterolemic, and ar…