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Prevalence and Trends of Slow Gait Speed in the United States

Gait speed is a simple, effective indicator of age-related disease and disability. We sought to examine the prevalence and trends of slow gait speed in older Americans. Our unweighted analytic sample included 12,427 adults aged ≥ 65 years from the 2006–2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Stover, Emily, Andrew, Sarah, Batesole, Joshua, Berntson, Maren, Carling, Chloe, FitzSimmons, Samantha, Hoang, Tyler, Nauer, Joseph, McGrath, Ryan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10605995/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37887968
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics8050095
Descripción
Sumario:Gait speed is a simple, effective indicator of age-related disease and disability. We sought to examine the prevalence and trends of slow gait speed in older Americans. Our unweighted analytic sample included 12,427 adults aged ≥ 65 years from the 2006–2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Gait speed was measured in participant residences. Persons with gait speed < 0.8 or <0.6 m/s were slow. Sample weights were used to generate nationally representative estimates. The overall estimated prevalence of slow gait speed with the <0.8 m/s cut-point was 48.6% (95% confidence interval (CI): 47.4–49.8) in the 2006–2008 waves yet was 45.7% (CI: 44.3–47.1) in the 2014–2016 waves, but this downward trend was not statistically significant (p = 0.06). The estimated prevalence of slowness with the <0.6 m/s cut-point was 21.3% (CI: 20.4–22.3) for the 2006–2008 waves, 18.5% (CI: 17.5–19.4) for the 2010–2012 waves, and 19.2% (CI: 18.2–20.2) for the 2014–2016 waves, but there were again no significant trends (p = 0.61). Our findings showed that the estimated prevalence of slow gait speed in older Americans is pronounced, and different cut-points largely inform how slowness is categorized. Continued surveillance of slowness over time will help guide screening for disablement and identify sub-populations at greatest risk for targeted interventions.