Abstract
Background
Assessing
the risk of disability in older adults is important for developing
prevention and intervention strategies to decrease potential disability
and dependency. The aim of this study was to examine the association
between spatio-temporal gait variables and disability among older
adults.
Methods
We
conducted a prospective study in a community setting. We collected data
from 4121 subjects (≥ 65 years, mean age: 71.9 years). Gait speed,
cadence, stride length, and stride length variability were measured at
baseline. Participants were instructed to walk at their usual pace along
a 6.4 m straight and flat path on which an electronic gait measuring
device was mounted at mid 2.4 m. Subsequent disability was confirmed
from long-term care insurance records.
Results
During
follow-up duration (mean: 49.6 months), 425 participants had incident
disability. The cut-off value to detect high or low function in each
gait variable was determined using the Youden index. Cox proportional
hazard analysis adjusted for covariates showed that disability was
significantly predicted by low function in each gait variable using the
cut-off values: gait speed (hazard ratio [95% confidential intervals]:
2.06 [1.65–2.57]), stride length (2.17 [1.72–2.73]), cadence (1.49
[1.20–1.86], and stride length variability (1.46 [1.19–1.80]). The
number of gait variables that scored in the low function category were
also cumulatively related to subsequent disability (p < .001).
Conclusions
This
study revealed that spatio-temporal gait variables had a significant
predictive value for incident disability. Multifaceted and quantitative
gait analysis can contribute to disability risk assessment.
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