A new study based on the China Health and Elderly Care Tracking Survey (CHARLS) project suggests that for Chinese elderly people, faster walking speed is associated with a lower risk of hypertension, especially among overweight and obese elderly people. The author points out that the research results suggest that walking speed may be one of the early predictors of hypertension and can be used as one of the intervention targets for high-risk populations. This study analyzed 2733 elderly people aged ≥ 60 years old, evaluated their walking speed by objectively measuring their daily gait over a distance of 2.5 meters, and divided them into four groups based on quartiles. During a 4-year follow-up period, 26.9% of people developed hypertension. After adjusting for age, gender, marital status, education level, smoking, alcohol consumption, moderate to high intensity physical activity, and body mass index, the analysis showed a negative correlation between walking speed and hypertension risk, meaning that the faster walking speed, the lower the risk of high risk. In addition, among overweight and obese elderly people, the correlation between walking speed and hypertension risk is stronger. However, this correlation is not significant in thin individuals. Researchers point out that this suggests that body mass index plays a role in the association between walking speed and hypertension risk. The study also found a similar correlation trend between walking speed and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. As walking speed increases, both systolic and diastolic blood pressure gradually decrease, and then gradually stabilize. In this study, the average age of elderly people was 66.8 years old, with 46.6% being women and an average walking speed of 0.65 meters/second. Wen/Yang Jingang (Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences) (Xinhua News Agency)