Japanese elderly persons walk faster than non-Asian elderly persons: a meta-regression analysis

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify ethnic differences in walking speed by comparing walking speed in both Japanese and non-Asian elderly individuals and to investigate the necessity of consideration of ethnic differences in walking speed. [Subjects and Methods] Articles that reported comfortable walking speeds for community-dwelling elderly individuals were identified from electronic databases. Articles that involved community-dwelling individuals who were 60 years old or older and well functioning were included in the study. Articles that involved Asians were excluded. Weighted means for 5-m walking times were calculated as walking speeds from the Japanese and non-Asian sample data. The effects of age, gender, and ethnicity on 5-m walking times were then investigated using meta-regression analysis. [Results] Twenty studies (34 groups) were included for Japanese, and 16 studies (28 groups) were included for non-Asians. The weighted mean 5-m walking time was estimated to be 4.15 sec (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.87–4.44) for Japanese and 4.24 sec (95% CI: 4.09–4.40) for non-Asians. Furthermore, using meta-regression analysis adjusted for age and gender, the 5-m walking time was 0.40 sec faster (95% CI: 0.03–0.77) for Japanese than for non-Asian elderly individuals. [Conclusion] Walking speed appeared faster for Japanese community-dwelling elderly individuals than for non-Asian elderly individuals.