Associations between gait speed and well-known fall risk factors among community-dwelling older adults.

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9612022 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-2865 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 13582267 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Physiother Res Int Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2006- : Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons
Original Publication: London ; Lawrence, KS : Whurr Publishers, c1996-

Fear* ; Gait* ; Independent Living* ; Walking Speed*; Accidental Falls/*prevention & control; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cohort Studies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Norway ; Risk Factors ; Walking

Background and Purpose: Exercise interventions are effective at preventing falls in community-dwelling older adults, especially before disability is present. Gait speed below 1.0 m/s is a strong predictor for falls in the elderly. However, evidence is sparse for gait speed alone being sufficient to identify individuals at a high risk of falling. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of fall risk factors among community-dwelling older adults in their late 70s and to investigate the associations between these risk factors and low gait speed in this population.
Methods: This cross-sectional cohort study comprised 108 elderly living in a small Norwegian municipality, born between 1936 and 1938. Exclusion criteria were living in residential care, inability to walk 4 m, and severe cognitive impairment. Measurements included gait speed, depressive symptoms, executive functions, fear of falling, vision function, fall history, body mass index, medications, and comorbidity. Gait speed was dichotomized using a cut-off of 1 m/s, and associations between different risk factors and low gait speed was explored using logistic regression analysis.
Results: Mean gait speed was 1.0 ± 0.3 m/s. In 44.4% of the participants, gait speed was below 1.0 m/s, indicating increased fall risk. Low gait speed was significantly associated with a history of multiple falls (odds ratio [OR] = 3.70, 95% CI [1.18, 11.65]), low educational level (OR = 3.58, 95% CI [1.10, 11.66]), higher number of medications (OR = 4.28, 95% CI [1.63, 11.2]), and higher number of depressive symptoms (OR = 1.31, 95% CI [1.09, 1.58]). We found no significant associations between gait speed and comorbidity, sex, vision, executive functions, or fear of falling.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that gait speed with cut-off 1.0 m/s could represent a useful tool for identifying individuals who are vulnerable but not yet disabled and could benefit from fall-preventive exercise. However, extended assessment is probably needed to personalize interventions.
(Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Keywords: community dwelling; fall risk; gait speed; older adults

Date Created: 20180911 Date Completed: 20190702 Latest Revision: 20190702

20240104

10.1002/pri.1743

30198603