Altered gait profile in subjects with peripheral arterial disease

The purpose of this study was to determine whether peripheral arterial dise ase (PAD) subjects had impaired temporal and spatial gait characteristics c ompared to non-PAD controls at preferred and rapid self-selected walking pa ces. A total of 28 PAD subjects with intermittent claudication (age = 71 +/ - 1; mean +/- SEM) and 15 non-PAD controls with at least one cardiovascular risk factor but no ambulatory leg pain (age=71+/-1) were recruited. Gait p arameters consisting of velocity, cadence, stride length, swing time, stanc e time, single-support rime, double-support time, and base of support were recorded at the preferred and rapid walking paces. At the rapid walking pac e, velocity was 22% slower (p < 0.001) in the PAD subjects compared with th e non-PAD controls (99.9 +/- 3.3 vs. 117.5 +/- 5.3 cm/s) due to an 8% (p = 0.019) slower cadence [99.9 It 1.7 vs. 103.3 +/- 2.4 steps/min) and a 14% ( p < 0.001) shorter stride length (119.8 +/- 2.9 vs. 135.8 +/- 4.2 cm/stride ). The PAD subjects spent 5% less of the gait cycle in the swing phase (p = 0.006) and 3% more in stance (p = 0.006) than their non-PAD counterparts. Du ri ng the stance phase, the PAD subjects spent 5% less of the gait cycle in single-stance (p=0.004) and 16% more in double-stance (p = 0.007). Simi lar results were obtained at the preferred walking pace. In conclusion, com pared with the controls, PAD subjects adopted an ambulatory pattern that fa vored greater gait stability at the expense of greater walking speed at eit her their preferred or rapid self-selected paces.