PARIS, Sept 17, 2008 (AFP) - Octogenarians who walk an hour or more each day are less likely to die and or be prone to serious illness compared with less active counterparts, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The research was carried out among 248 Italian volunteers, living in a mountain community, whose average age was 85.9 years.

During the 24-month experiment, 12 percent of the volunteers died, but the mortality was a third higher among those who walked less than an hour each day.

They were also likelier to be depressed, have cognitive impairment, bad heart problems, osteoarthritis and high blood pressure compared to those in the "walking" group.

The paper appears in the journal Preventive Medicine, published by the Dutch group Elsevier.