Prognostic value of usual gait speed in well-functioning older people--results from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study

Cesari, M.
Kritchevsky, S.B.
Penninx, B.W.J.H.
Nicklas, B.J.
Simonsick, E.M.
Newman, A.B.
Tylavsky, F.A.
Brach, J.S.
Satterfield, S.
Bauer, D.C.
Visser, M.
Rubin, S.M.
Harris, T.B.
Pahor, M.

Open link

Publication date

January 2005

DOI

10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53501.x

Publisher

Wiley

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To define clinically relevant cutpoints for usual gait speed and to investigate their predictive value for health-related events in older persons. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. PARTICIPANTS: Three thousand forty-seven well-functioning older persons (mean age 74.2). MEASUREMENTS: Usual gait speed on a 6-m course was assessed at baseline. Participants were randomly divided into two groups to identify (Sample A; n = 2,031) and then validate (Sample B; n = 1,016) usual gait-speed cutpoints. Rates of persistent lower extremity limitation events (mean follow-up 4.9 years) were calculated according to gait speed in Sample A. A cutpoint (defining high- (<1 m/s) and low risk (≥1 m/s)...