Abstract
Objectives
To determine home-based gait speed performance and its associations with sociodemographic
and health-related factors among older adults.
Design
Cross-sectional analysis of a nationally representative US population sample.
Setting and participants
Homes of Health and Retirement Study (HRS) participants.
Methods
Walk test data measured at home over 2.5 m were aggregated for 6983 individuals, aged
≥65 years (mean age 74.8 ± 6.9 years, 54.2% women), from the 2006 and 2008 HRS waves.
Means for gait speed at normal pace were determined for demographic and clinical groupings;
association of gait speed with demographic, socioeconomic status, and health factors
were examined. Four-year mortality was predicted from baseline slow gait status defined
using demographic-based cutoff scores as well as commonly recommended cutoff scores
(100 or 60 cm/s).
Results
Home-based gait speed (cm/s) means were lower for female than male (9.6% difference),
older than younger (18.0% difference), African American than white (20.5% difference),
and Hispanic than Non-Hispanic (10.3% difference) participants. Differences by age
group, race, and ethnicity remained significant within sexes (P < .001). Lower speed was associated with African American race and all health problems;
higher speed was associated with higher socioeconomic status and alcohol consumption.
Four-year mortality was predicted by slow gait status. Predictive validity was, in
general, higher for slow gait cutoff scores defined by demographic characteristics.
Conclusions and implications
Mean gait speed measured at home differs among older (aged ≥65 years) US resident
population groups defined by sex, age, race, ethnicity, health status, and combinations
of these factors, and predicts 4-year mortality when substantially slower than group-based
norms. These findings may assist researchers and clinicians in determining normal
and abnormal gait performance in older adults in community settings.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 05, 2019
Footnotes
This analysis was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (UG3NS105565). The Health and Retirement Study is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (U01AG009740).
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
