Statistical Analysis
Continuous data are presented as the mean (SD) or as the median (IQR) and were compared using the Student Given that the intervention effect may differ according to the baseline step count, we divided the participants into 3 groups according to the average daily step count at visit 1 (>15,000, 10,000-15,000, and <10,000 steps/day) and tracked the step count until the final visit. Subgroup analyses were performed for the participants with a lower-than-average daily step count at visit 1 (<11,667 steps/day), considering that the intervention might have had a minimal effect on the participants with a high step count at baseline. To evaluate the effects of walking, we compared the changes in the metabolic parameters between the participants with and without an increased step count during the study period.All statistical analyses were performed using the SAS software (version 9.4; SAS Institute, Inc) and the R software (version 4.1.1; R Foundation for Statistical Computing). Statistical significance was determined using a 2-sided 