Increased gait unsteadiness in community-dwelling elderly fallers.
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that quantitative measures of gait unsteadiness are increased in community-dwelling elderly fallers.


METHODS
Retrospective, case-control study.


METHODS
General community.


METHODS
Thirty-five community-dwelling elderly subjects older than 70 years of age who were capable of ambulating independently for 6 minutes were categorized as fallers (age, 82.2 +/- 4.9 yrs [mean +/- SD]; n = 18) and nonfallers (age, 76.5 +/- 4.0 yrs; n = 17) based on history; 22 young (age, 24.6 +/- 1.9 yrs), healthy subjects also participated as a second reference group.


METHODS
Stride-to-stride variability (standard deviation and coefficient of variation) of stride time, stance time, swing time, and percent stance time measured during a 6-minute walk.


RESULTS
All measures of gait variability were significantly greater in the elderly fallers compared with both the elderly nonfallers and the young subjects (p < .0002). In contrast, walking speed of the elderly fallers was similar to that of the nonfallers. There were little or no differences in the variability measures of the elderly nonfallers compared with the young subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
Stride-to-stride temporal variations of gait are relatively unchanged in community-dwelling elderly nonfallers, but are significantly increased in elderly fallers. Quantitative measurement of gait unsteadiness may be useful in assessing fall risk in the elderly.
Hausdorff
J M
JM
Gerontology Division, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Edelberg
H K
HK
Mitchell
S L
SL
Goldberger
A L
AL
Wei
J Y
JY
D000058:Accidental Falls; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005221:Fatigue / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies