Cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome are major contributors to health care expenditure. Increased physical activity reduces disease risk. The study compared effects of walking up and down stairs at home with continuous, gym-based stair climbing on the disease risk factors of aerobic fitness, serum lipids, body composition, fasting blood glucose, and resting cardiovascular variables. Sedentary women (31.7 +/- 1.4 years) were randomly assigned to home-based (n = 26) or gym-based (n = 24) climbing for five days/week over an eight-week period. Each ascent required a 32.8-m climb, with home-based climbing matching the vertical displacement in the gym. Participants progressed from two ascents/day to five ascents/day in weeks 7 and 8. Relative to controls, stair climbing improved aerobic fitness (VO2max +1.63 mL/min/kg, 95% CI 1.21 to 2.05), body composition (weight -0.99 kg, 95% CI 1.38 to 0.60), and serum lipids (LDL cholesterol -0.20 mmol/L, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.31; triglycerides -0.21 mmol/L, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.27), with similar risk reductions for home and gym-based groups. Only the home-based protocol reduced fasting blood glucose. Discussion focuses on stair climbing bouts as time-efficient exercise and the potential benefits of a home-based intervention. Stair use at home offers a low-cost intervention for disease risk reduction to public health.

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