Usual walking speed and all-cause mortality risk in older people: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Publication date: February 2016
Source:Gait & Posture, Volume 44
Author(s): Bing Liu, Xinhua Hu, Qiang Zhang, Yichuan Fan, Jun Li, Rui Zou, Ming Zhang, Xiuqi Wang, Junpeng Wang
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between slow usual walking speed and all-cause mortality risk in older people by conducting a meta-analysis. We searched through the Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane Library database up to March 2015. Only prospective observational studies that investigating the usual walking speed and all-cause mortality risk in older adulthood approaching age 65 years or more were included. Walking speed should be specifically assessed as a single-item tool over a short distance. Pooled adjusted risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were computed for the lowest versus the highest usual walking speed category. A total of 9 studies involving 12,901 participants were included. Meta-analysis with random effect model showed that the pooled adjusted RR of all-cause mortality was 1.89 (95% CI 1.46–2.46) comparing the lowest to the highest usual walk speed. Subgroup analyses indicated that risk of all-cause mortality for slow usual walking speed appeared to be not significant among women (RR 1.45; 95% CI 0.95–2.20). Slow usual walking speed is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in men but not in women among older adulthood approaching age 65 years or more.



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