Gait characteristics associated with walking speed decline in older adults: Results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging

Abstract

Background Understanding the mechanisms that contribute to walking speed decline can provide needed insight for developing targeted interventions to reduce the rate and likelihood of decline. Objective Examine the association between gait characteristics and walking speed decline in older adults. Methods Participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging aged 60 to 89 were evaluated in the gait laboratory which used a three dimensional motion capture system and force platforms to assess cadence, stride length, stride width, percent of gait cycle in double stance, anterior-posterior mechanical work expenditure (MWE), and medial-lateral MWE. Usual walking speed was assessed over 6 meters at baseline and follow-up. Gait characteristics associated with meaningful decline (decline ≥ 0.05 m/s/y) in walking speed were evaluated by logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, race, height, weight, initial walking speed and follow-up time. Results Among 362 participants, the average age was 72.4 (SD=8.1) years, 51% were female, 27% were black and 23% were identified has having meaningful decline in usual walking speed with an average follow-up time of 3.2 (1.1) years. In the fully adjusted model, faster cadence [ORadj=0.65 95% CI (0.43,0.97)] and longer strides [ORadj=0.87 95% CI (0.83,0.91)] were associated with lower odds of decline. However age [ORadj=1.04 95% CI (0.99,1.10)] was not associated with decline when controlling for gait characteristics and other demographics. Conclusion A sizable proportion of healthy older adults experienced walking speed decline over an average of 3 years. Longer stride and faster cadence were protective against meaningful decline in usual walking speed.

The association of waist circumference with walking difficulty among adults with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis: the Osteoarthritis Initiative

“…We defined limited walking speed as a gait speed < 1.2 meters/second (m/s) during the 20-meter walk test at the four year follow-up among study participants walking ≥ 1.2 m/s at baseline 21 . A speed ≥ 1.2 meters/second (m/s) is necessary to cross a timed cross walk 17 .…”

Fragilidade física e velocidade da marcha em idosos da comunidade: uma revisão sistemática

“…Gait speed is an important indicator of health conditions and physical frailty in the elderly, and like other physical changes, it suffers a decline with aging (24) . In a study, were analyzed data from seven studies conducted in the United States and Italy with the objective of estimating the incidence of disability and risk of mortality in 27,220 elderly people (≥65 years old) living in the community and monitored for three years.…”

Dual Tasking for the Differentiation between Depression and Mild Cognitive Impairment

“…Healthy older adults are walking fastest under ST and DT condition, so differentiation between healthy and both aMCI and depressed patients is possible by a simple ST or DT paradigm as it has already and repeatedly been shown by previous studies (Coppin et al, 2006 ; Holtzer et al, 2006 ; Verghese et al, 2007 ; Alexander and Hausdorff, 2008 ; Montero-Odasso et al, 2009a ; Muir et al, 2012a ). According to literature, gait speeds under ST and DT conditions are slower in subjects with aMCI than in healthy controls (Montero-Odasso et al, 2009a , b , 2012 ; Muir et al, 2012b ; Jerome et al, 2015 ). A significant differentiation between MCI and depressed patients was not possible using our ST and DT parameters, indicating that these parameters do not have high potentials to answer our primary study hypothesis.…”

“…Univariate analyses of covariances (ANCOVAs) were performed for ST, DT and DTC with the between-subject variable of the four groups. The analysis was adjusted for age and gender because these variables were repeatedly shown to have a relevant influence on both walking speed (Jerome et al, 2015 ) and DT performance (Schaefer, 2014 ). Results about (influence of) covariates are provided upon request.…”