REVIEW PAPER
Can gait speed test be used as a falls risk screening tool in community dwelling older adults? A review
 
More details
Hide details
1
Physiotherapy Programme, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
 
2
Department of Medical Rehabilitation Services, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center, Malaysia
 
3
Nutrition and Dietetics Programme, School of Healthcare Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
 
 
Submission date: 2014-08-16
 
 
Acceptance date: 2015-04-27
 
 
Online publication date: 2015-07-07
 
 
Publication date: 2020-03-23
 
 
Corresponding author
Devinder Kaur Ajit Singh   

Physiotherapy Program, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia. Tel.: +60 1 2546 6442.
 
 
Pol. Ann. Med. 2016;23(1):61-67
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Gait speed is a simple and easy to perform outcome measure that does not require expensive equipment or complex instructions. However, whether gait speed test can be used as a falls risk screening tool among community dwelling older adults is still unclear.

Aim:
The objective of this review was to summarize the evidence on gait speed as a falls risk screening tool among community dwelling older adults.

Material and methods:
Articles were searched from two electronic databases, reference lists of studies and reviewed articles. Five articles met the criteria for review.

Results and discussion:
Based on the review performed, it was concluded that there is no consensus whether gait speed can be used to identify fallers and non-fallers among community dwelling older adults. The discrimination and predictive validity of gait speed as a tool to identify the risk of falls is not available. However, risk of falls have been categorized into four categories based on gait speed. The categories were <0.6 m/s as slow, 0.6–1.0 m/s as intermediate, 1.0–1.3 m/s as normal performance walker and >1.3 m/s as fast performance walker. Majority of authors have reported high risk of falls among groups with gait speed that ranged 0.6–1.0 m/s. This suggests that decreased gait speed among older adults would likely increase the probability of falls risk.

Conclusions:
The discrimination and predictive validity of gait speed test as a tool to identify the risk of falls among community dwelling older adults is yet to be established.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study is a part of a larger in progress study funded by grants from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Komuniti-2012-003) and Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia through Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (LRGS/BU/2012/ UKM-UKM/K/01).
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
 
REFERENCES (36)
1.
Kannus P, Sievänen H, Palvanen M, Järvinen T, Parkkari J. Prevention of falls and consequent injuries in elderly people. Lancet. 2005;366(9500):1885–1893.
 
2.
Rubenstein LZ. Falls in older people: epidemiology, risk factors. J Age Ageing. 2006;35:37–41.
 
3.
Rubenstein LZ, Josephson KR. The epidemiology of falls and syncope. Clin Geriatr Med. 2002;18:141–158.
 
4.
Bloem BR, Steijns JAG, Smits-Engelsman BC. An update on falls. Curr Opin Neurol. 2003;16(1):15–26.
 
5.
Chu L, Chi I, Chiu A. Incidence and predictors of falls in the chinese elderly. Ann Acad Med Singapore. 2005;34(1):60–72.
 
6.
Morris M, Osborne D, Hill K, Kendig H, Lundgren-Lindquist B. Predisposing factors for occasional and multiple falls in older Australians who live at home. Aust J Physiother. 2004;50:153–159.
 
7.
Sazlina SG, Krishnan R, Shamsul A, Zaiton A, Visvanathan R. J Community Health. 2008;14(1):11–16.
 
8.
Hui CS, Shahar S, Soon LF, Ramli A. Sejarah Jatuh dan Hubungannya dengan Status Pemakanan di Kalangan Pesakit Warga Tua. Sains Malays. 2012;41(3):379–385.
 
9.
Singh D, Manaf Z. Correlation between nutritional status and comprehensive physical performance measures among older adults with undernourishment in residential. Interv Aging. 2014;1415–1423.
 
10.
Ganz DA, Bao Y, Shekelle PGR. Clinician's corner Will My Patient Fall? Patient scenario. Am Med Assoc. 2007;297(1):77–86.
 
11.
Robinett CS, Vondran MA. Functional ambulation velocity and distance requirements in rural and urban communities. A clinical report. Phys Ther. 1988;68(9):1371–1373.
 
12.
Bohannon RW. Comfortable and maximum walking speed of adults aged 20–79 years: reference values and determinants. J Age Ageing. 1997;26:15–19.
 
13.
Manson JE, Hu FB, Rich-Willet JW, et al. A prospective study of walking as compared with vigorous exercise in the prevention of coronary heart disease in women. N Engl J Med. 1999;341:650–658.
 
14.
Hardy SE, Perera S, Roumani YF, Chandler JM, Studenski SA. Improvement in usual gait speed predicts better survival in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2007;55(11):1727–1734.
 
15.
Taekema DG, Gussekloo J, Westendorp RGJ, De Craen AJM, Maier AB. Predicting survival in oldest old people. Am J Med. 2012;125(12):1188–1194.
 
16.
Studenski S, Faulkner K, Inzitari M, et al. Gait speed and survival in older adults. J Am Med Assoc. 2012;305(1).
 
17.
Studenski S, Perera S, Wallace D. Physical performance measures in the clinical setting. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2003;51:314–322.
 
18.
Cesari M, Kritchevsky SB, Penninx BWH, et al. Prognostic value of usual gait speed in well-functioning older people – results from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2005;53(10):1675–1680.
 
19.
Seino S, Kim M, Yabushita N, et al. Is a composite score of physical performance measures more useful than usual gait speed alone in assessing functional status? Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2012;55(2):392–398.
 
20.
Novaes DN, Miranda ASD. Usual gait speed assessment in middle-aged and elderly Brazilian subjects. Rev Bras Fisioter. 2011;15(2):117–122.
 
21.
Quach L, Galica AM, Jones RN, et al. The nonlinear relationship between gait speed and falls: the Maintenance of Balance, Independent Living, Intellect, and Zest in the Elderly of Boston Study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011;59(June(6)):1069–1073.
 
22.
Beauchet O, Allali G, Annweiler C, et al. Does change in gait while counting backward predict the occurrence of a first fall in older adults? Gerontology. 2008;54(4):217–223.
 
23.
VanSwearingen JM, Paschal KA, Bonino P. Assessing recurrent fall risk of community-dwelling, frail older veterans using specific tests of mobility and the physical performance test of function. J Gerontol Ser A: Biol Sci Med Sci. 1998;53(6):M457–M464.
 
24.
Dingwell JB, Cusumano JP, Sternad D, Cavanagh PR. Slower speeds in patients with diabetic neuropathy lead to improved local dynamic stability of continuous overground walking. J Biomech. 2000;33(10):1269–1277.
 
25.
Inzitari M, Newman B, Boudreau R, De Rekeneire N, Harris B. Gait speed predicts decline in attention and psychomotor speed in older adults: the health aging and body composition study. Neuroepidemology. 2007;15213:156–162.
 
26.
Muir SW, Berg K, Chesworth B, Speechley M. Research report balance impairment as a risk factor for falls in communitydwelling older adults who are high functioning. J Am Phys Ther Assoc. 2010;90:338–347.
 
27.
Gates S, Smith LA, Fisher JD, Lamb SE. Systematic review of accuracy of screening instruments for predicting fall risk among independently living older adults. J Rehabil Res Dev. 2008;45(8):1105–1116.
 
28.
United Nations, Department of Economic. World Population Ageing 2009. Vol 295. United Nation Publications; 2010.
 
29.
Viccaro LJ, Perera S, Studenski SA. Is timed up and go better than gait speed in predicting health, function, and falls in older adults? J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011;59(5):887–892.
 
30.
Verghese J, Holtzer R, Lipton RB, Wang C. Quantitative gait markers and incident fall risk in older adults. J Gerontol A: Biol Sci Med Sci. 2009;64(8):896–901.
 
31.
Montero-Odasso M, Schapira M, Soriano ER, et al. Gait velocity as a single predictor of adverse events in healthy seniors aged 75 years and older. J Gerontol A: Biol Sci Med Sci. 2005;1304–1309.
 
32.
Hicks CM. Research Methods for Clinical Therapists: Applied Project Design and Analysis. 4th ed. London: Elsevier Health Sciences; 2009.
 
33.
Peel N. Validating recall of falls by older people. Accid Anal Prev. 2000;32(3):371–372.
 
34.
Ganz Da. Higashi T, Rubenstein LZ. Monitoring falls in cohort studies of community-dwelling older people: effect of the recall interval. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2005;53(12):2190–2194.
 
35.
Cummings SR, Nevitt MC, Kidd S. Forgetting falls: the limited accuracy of recall of falls in the elderly. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1988;36(7):613–616.
 
36.
Mackenzie L, Byles J, D'Este C. Validation of self-reported fall events in intervention studies. Clin Rehabil. 2006;20(4):331–339.
 
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top