TOPLINE:

Higher daily step counts were associated with a lower risk for Parkinson's disease (PD); however, this association weakened over time, suggesting that low step counts might be an early sign of the disease rather than a risk factor.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted an observational study to evaluate the association between accelerometer-measured daily step counts and incident PD (defined as the first diagnosis of PD) across different follow-up periods.
• They included data of 94,696 participants (mean age, 62.3 years; 56.4% women; 97% White) from the UK Biobank who wore wrist accelerometers for up to 7 consecutive days between 2013 and 2015; the median follow-up period was 7.9 years, during which 407 cases of incident PD were identified.
• Daily step counts were estimated using validated machine learning algorithms applied to accelerometer data.

TAKEAWAY:

• After multivariable adjustments, participants who walked more than 12,369 steps per day had a 59% lower risk for PD (hazard ratio [HR], 0.41; 95% CI, 0.31-0.54) than those who walked less than 6276 steps per day.
• Each additional 1000 steps per day were associated with an 8% lower risk for PD (HR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.89-0.94).
• The association was strongest within the first 2 years of follow-up (HR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.70-0.90), during which 55 cases of incident PD were noted. However, beyond 6 years of follow-up, the association was no longer significant, suggesting that low daily step counts are an early sign of PD rather than a risk factor.

IN PRACTICE:

"This work supports the continued labelling of low physical activity as a marker for Parkinson's disease, rather than as a risk factor leading to Parkinson's disease," the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Aidan Acquah, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, England. It was published online on November 24, 2025, in npj Parkinson's Disease.

LIMITATIONS:

Due to the observational nature of the study, the possibility of unmeasured or residual confounding in the observed associations could not be ruled out. The UK Biobank provided limited health data, which were used to identify PD cases, and the database lacked information on disease severity or subtype. The number of incident cases was small during the follow-up period.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Centre for Doctoral Training in Health Data Science and by GSK plc as part of an iCase studentship. One author reported receiving research grants from Swiss Re and Novo Nordisk. One author reported being an employee of GSK.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.