Abstract
BackgroundWalking speed is an important measure associated with health outcomes in older individuals, such as dependency and death. This study aimed to examine whether the walking speed of community-dwelling older adults varies between time periods within a day, as measured outdoors in daily life. We aimed to determine the types of walking speed variations and examine the factors associated with them.MethodsDaily life outdoor walking speed was measured in 92 participants (average age 71.9 years±5.64) using a GPS smartphone app for 1 month. Average walking speeds for five time periods were analyzed with a linear mixed model. Intra-day walking speed variation patterns were classified by latent class analysis. Factors associated with the class were identified by logistic regression analysis.ResultsA statistically significant difference in average walking speed was found between early morning (1.33 m/s), and afternoon (1.27 m/s) and evening (1.26 m/s) (p < 0.01). The intra-day variation in walking speed was attributed to variation in cadence. Two classes were identified: (1) fast walking speed with large variation and (2) slow walking speed with little variation; hypertension and frailty level were associated with the class.ConclusionThe results suggest that there is intra-day variation in walking speed in daily life, wherein the speed is the fastest early in the morning and slower in the afternoon and evening. A larger variation in the walking speed was related to the health status without hypertension or frailty. These results suggest that if a person shows less intra-day variation in walking speed, this could be a sign that they are susceptible to hypertension and an increased frailty level.
Highlights
Walking speed is an important measure associated with health outcomes in older individuals, such as dependency and death
There were no significant differences for age, sex, body characteristics, and prevalence of chronic diseases between robust and pre-frail participants, but grip strength and normal walking speed were significantly higher in the robust than in the pre-frail participants (Table 1)
This study suggested that there is an intra-day variation in walking speed and cadence in daily life and that a larger variation in the walking speed was related to the health status without hypertension or frailty
Summary
Walking speed is an important measure associated with health outcomes in older individuals, such as dependency and death. In previous epidemiological research and medical checks, walking speed is commonly measured using a stopwatch to determine the time taken to walk on a walkway for a certain distance (e.g., 5 or 10 m) [7]. This method is simple and easy and has been shown to be sufficiently accurate for measuring walking performance [8], and it has been used in numerous studies [7, 9]. Measuring the walking speed remotely (without an examiner) in daily life could be a better tool for the long-term assessment of older individuals’ health conditions, because it can evaluate the natural walking speed in daily life and can be measured continuously
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