Abstract
OBJECTIVE
We analyzed associations between a battery of gait characteristics and frailty status across four different frailty instruments in old patients.
DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.
SETTING
Geriatric wards of a general hospital.
PARTICIPANTS
123 hospitalized patients aged ≥65 years.
MEASUREMENTS
Spatio-temporal and three-dimensional gait characteristics were assessed by an electronic walkway and a shoe-mounted, inertial sensor-based mobile gait analysis system. Frailty status was assessed by the frailty phenotype (FP), Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), frailty index (FI), and frailty index based on a comprehensive geriatric assessment (FI-CGA).
RESULTS
A reduction in walking speed (FP, FI, FI-CGA), stride length (FP, FI, FI-CGA), maximum toe clearance (FP, CFS, FI, FI-CGA), toe off angle (FP, CFS, FI, FI-CGA), heal strike angle (FI-CGA) and greater stride length variability (FP, CFS, FI, FI-CGA), stride time variability (FP, FI), double support time (FP, FI), and stride width (CFA, FI-CGA) were associated with frailty status across the four frailty instruments (all P < 0.05, respectively). Walking speed (FP, CFS, FI, FI-CGA), stride length (FP, CFS, FI, FI-CGA), maximum toe clearance (FP, CFS, FI, FI-CGA), toe off angle (FP, CFS, FI, FI-CGA), heal strike angle (FP, FI), stride length variability (CFS, FI, FI-CGA), stride time variability (FI), double support time (FP), and stride width (FP, CFS, FI) were related with frailty severity across the four frailty instruments independent of age and sex (all P adjusted < 0.05, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS
Gait changes in frail patients include more than solely a reduction in walking speed.
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