Objectively-measured step cadence and walking patterns in a rural African setting: a cross-sectional analysis

OBJECTIVES: To investigate free-living, accelerometry-derived step cadence and walking strategy parameters in 263 adult women (19–56 years) within a rural African setting. Participants were categorised into weight groups: Under-to-Normal Weight (UW/NW: < 25 kg/m(2)), Overweight-to-Obese (OW/OB: ≥ 25 kg/m(2)). From the minute-by-minute uni-axial accelerometry data, outcomes describing physical activity intensity, step volume, step cadence and step bouts were extracted. In addition, walking pattern parameters for step bout length and step cadence were determined. RESULTS: Average step volume was 13,568 steps/day, and > 85% of participants were classified as active-to-highly-active. Overall, ≈ 45% of daily steps was accumulated in the low-to-moderate intensity range. Peak cadence indices were higher in the UW/NW group (p ≤ 0.0112). For both groups, 75% of steps were accumulated in bouts > 15 min, and 95% of bouts were accumulated at 1–39 steps/min. The UW/NW group employed a more varied step cadence, and higher cadences contributed more to step accumulation than the OW/OB group (p ≤ 0.05). There were no significant group differences in bout length strategy parameters (p ≥ 0.0861). Despite no difference between the weight groups in step volume, there were differences in some step cadence indices which reflect higher step intensities, and in cadence strategies chosen to accumulate steps. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13104-022-06045-9.