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Reference equations for harmonizing gait speed results of different test protocols in community-dwelling older adults

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Abstract

Background and aims

Different gait speed assessment protocols regarding start and stop of walking make comparison between studies impossible. The aim of this study was providing reference equations to estimate a person´s steady-state gait speed from gait speed measured with a test protocol including static start and/or stop.

Methods

Gait speed of 150 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 80.5 ± 4.5 years; 61% women) was measured over 4 m with different assessment protocols regarding start and stop of walking on an instrumented walkway. Reference equations to estimate steady-state gait speed from the results of other test protocols were calculated by regression analysis within a fivefold cross-validation.

Results

Mean absolute errors and the root mean squared errors of all reference equations ranged from 0.063 m/s to 0.074 m/s and 0.082 m/s to 0.096 m/s, respectively.

Conclusions

The provided reference equations can help harmonizing results between studies in community-dwelling older adults.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during this study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors. Medizinische Fakultät, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 43_19B, Ellen Freiberger.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection was performed by SK. Data analysis was performed by JK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by UL and JK and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulrich Lindemann.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflict of interest. The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the ethical committee of the local university and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. This study was approved by the FAU Ethical committee (43_19B).

Human and animal rights

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors

Informed consent

All participants of this project gave written informed consent for data analysis and publication.

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Lindemann, U., Krumpoch, S., Freiberger, E. et al. Reference equations for harmonizing gait speed results of different test protocols in community-dwelling older adults. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 413–416 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-022-02309-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-022-02309-3

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