Association of Walking Pace and Risk of Stroke: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

Cong Liang¹ Xinlin Huang¹ Yucui Pu¹ Pei Zhang¹ Rong Wang^1*

• ¹University of South China, China

Background: Walking pace (WP) is a fundamental and functional kind of movement that has been suggested as a predictor of future adverse health outcomes. These consequences include, but are not limited to, disability, cardiovascular disease (CVD), mobility limitation, and death. However, the connection between WP and the possibility of stroke is still the subject of debate. This study aims to determine whether or if there is a causal connection between WP and risk of stroke.In order to evaluate the potential for a causal relationship between WP and stroke, a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was carried out. Statistics about the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with stroke were taken from FinnGen (R8) (n = 284,040), while the UK Biobank genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provided the summary data on the association of SNPs with WP (n = 459,915). The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was utilised as the primary strategy to examine the connection between WP and stroke. Additionally, complementary analyses were conducted using the MR-Egger and weighted median. In order to identify the potential directional pleiotropy and heterogeneity, the MR-Egger intercept test, the MR-PRESSO test, and Cochran's Q statistic were all carried out. This connection was evaluated using OR with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: A total of 48 SNPs were identified as valid instrumental variables in our twosample MR analysis. The result showed that a slower walking pace is associated with a higher risk of stroke (OR = 0.573; 95% CI, 0.383-0.858, P = 0.007). The "leave-oneout" analysis demonstrated that the absence of a single SNP did not affect the robustness of our results. The MR-Egger intercept test indicated that genetic pleiotropy did not introduce bias into the results [intercept = -2.9E-03, SE = 0.008, P = 0.719] and Cochran's Q test revealed no heterogeneity. Therefore, the sensitivity analyses yielded comparable results. Consequently, the results of the sensitivity analyses were consistent.These results provided evidence that slower WP causally increased the risk of stroke, recommending that patients with lower WP should have a prompt physical examination and targeted interventions to reduce their risk of stroke and enhance their quality of life.