Stefano Cacciatore, MD, received the Fondazione Ferrero Best Abstract Award during Healthy Aging Week 2025, held at Fondazione Ferrero in Alba, Italy.
The 2025 edition, titled “Roadmap to Active Aging: Better Health for All,” brought together researchers, clinicians, and international experts for a multidisciplinary program focused on the challenges and opportunities of an aging society.
The meeting addressed active aging from scientific, social, and cultural perspectives, with sessions spanning the biology of aging, strategies to extend healthspan, osteoporosis and sarcopenia, environmental exposures, social relationships, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in healthy aging.
Dr. Cacciatore presented research examining the relationship between cardiovascular health and self-reported walking difficulty in middle-aged and older adults living in the community. The analysis included more than 4,000 adults and evaluated cardiovascular health across eight behavioral and clinical factors, including physical activity, diet, body weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, smoking, and sleep.
Walking difficulty was reported by approximately 16% of participants and became progressively less common as overall cardiovascular health improved. Physical activity emerged as the individual component most strongly associated with mobility.
The findings highlight an important connection between cardiovascular prevention and the preservation of physical function, suggesting that strategies aimed at improving cardiovascular health may also contribute to maintaining mobility and independence with aging.