<p>Reference Values of Gait Speed and Gait Spatiotemporal Parameters for a South East Asian Population: The Yishun Study</p>

Abstract

Background: Age-related slowing of gait has been reported to start as early as the fifth decade and accelerate beyond the seventh decade of life. A single cutoff for slow gait may not be appropriate for men and women of different ages. We aimed to report reference values for gait speed and spatiotemporal gait parameters of adult age groups in a South East Asian population. Methods: A total of 507 community-dwelling adults, aged 21-90 years were recruited into the study through random sampling, filling quotas of 20-40 participants in each sex and age group (10-year age groups between 21 and 60 years; 5-year age groups beyond age 60 years). Demographic data, height, weight and information on comorbidities were recorded. Habitual gait speed and spatiotemporal parameters were measured, and the average of three trials was recorded using the GAITRite system. Results: Gait speed peaked in their 40s for both men and women, but the trajectories differed slightly across age groups. Although similar for men in their 50s and 60s, gait speed was significantly slower among those aged 71 years and older. For women beyond 50 years old, gait slowed with age. After adjusting for height, women were found to walk significantly faster and with a longer step length than men. Women also walked with a significantly narrower stride width and less external rotation of the feet. The lowest quintile for gait speed in our study cohort was 0.9m/s, below the recommended cutoff of 1.0m/s. Conclusion: We established the reference values as well as the quintiles for gait speed and spatiotemporal gait parameters across adult age groups in a multi-ethnic Asian population. This contributes to a valuable database for gait assessment and evaluation of preventive or rehabilitative programs.

Micro-Doppler Radar Gait Measurement to Detect Age- and Fall Risk-Related Differences in Gait: A Simulation Study on Comparison of Deep Learning and Gait Parameter-Based Approaches

“…Ref. [8] reported that the differences in the stance time parameters between 50s and 70s groups were not large, whereas the differences in the step length and step width were relatively large; these characteristics explain our results. Figs.…”

“…In particular, elderly adults with a history of multiple falls have significant fall risks [5], [6], and the detection of such risks via the gait information is important to prevent repeated falls. Further, investigations of age-related gait changes are important to evaluate fall risks because aging is associated with slowing of gait [7], [8].…”

“…However, participants must wear numerous acceleration sensors in these approaches. Although sensing systems using force plates or pressure mats have also been used [4], [8], their measurement areas are limited to the sensor surface and the measurable gait information is thus limited compared with that obtainable using other sensors. To achieve simple and unconstrained gait measurement, optical remote sensing techniques such as depth sensing and camerabased analysis have been widely used [10]- [12].…”

Utilization of Micro-Doppler Radar to Classify Gait Patterns of Young and Elderly Adults: An Approach Using a Long Short-Term Memory Network

“…The above classification results indicate that age-related gait changes can be accurately detected based on the velocity time series of the legs’ motion extracted from the MDR. In biomechanics studies, age-related gait changes are important to evaluate fall risks during walking because aging is associated with gait slowing [ 27 , 28 ]. Thus, our method can be applied to monitoring systems for the early detection of individuals with high risks of falling.…”

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Falls among Older Outpatients

“…The 4 meter walking test (with 2 m provided for acceleration/deceleration) was used to measure gait speed (m/s). The results were divided into normal and slow walking speeds, with gait speeds of ≥0.9 m/s or <0.9 m/s, respectively [ 25 ].…”