THE DETERMINANTS OF WALKING VELOCITY IN THE ELDERLY

Objective, To determine predictors of walking velocity in the elderly, Methods, Five hundred thirty-two persons from 3 cohorts of elderly pe rsons (retirement community, ambulatory care medical clinic, or chroni cally homebound population) performed a 10-foot (for the homebound sub jects) or 50-foot (for all other subjects) walk time test and underwen t a standardized interview, chart review, and clinical examination, Th e 73 independent variables that were evaluated included demographic, m usculoskeletal, neurologic, psychologic, and other comorbidity items, Least-squares End least-absolute-deviation regression tree analyses we re performed to determine the strongest predictive factors associated with walking velocity. Results, Sampling cohort (homebound versus non- homebound); quadriceps strength, hip flexion strength, lumbosacral spi ne impairment, lower joint impairment, and education were found to be associated with walking velocity. Joint pain measures were not associa ted with walking velocity. Conclusion. Muscle strength variables are b etter predictors of walking velocity than are joint pain variables, Th us, clinical trials and observational studies using walking velocity a s an outcome need to take into consideration the influence of muscle s trength on this outcome variable.