title: Gait speed and survival in older adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Survival estimates help individualize goals of care for geriatric patients, but life tables fail to account for the great variability in survival. Physical performance measures, such as gait speed, might help account for variability, allowing clinicians to make more individualized estimates.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the relationship between gait speed and survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pooled analysis of 9 cohort studies (collected between 1986 and 2000), using individual data from 34,485 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years or older with baseline gait speed data, followed up for 6 to 21 years. Participants were a mean (SD) age of 73.5 (5.9) years; 59.6%, women; and 79.8%, white; and had a mean (SD) gait speed of 0.92 (0.27) m/s.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survival rates and life expectancy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 17,528 deaths; the overall 5-year survival rate was 84.8% (confidence interval [CI], 79.6%-88.8%) and 10-year survival rate was 59.7% (95% CI, 46.5%-70.6%). Gait speed was associated with survival in all studies (pooled hazard ratio per 0.1 m/s, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.87-0.90; P < .001). Survival increased across the full range of gait speeds, with significant increments per 0.1 m/s. At age 75, predicted 10-year survival across the range of gait speeds ranged from 19% to 87% in men and from 35% to 91% in women. Predicted survival based on age, sex, and gait speed was as accurate as predicted based on age, sex, use of mobility aids, and self-reported function or as age, sex, chronic conditions, smoking history, blood pressure, body mass index, and hospitalization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this pooled analysis of individual data from 9 selected cohorts, gait speed was associated with survival in older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Geratric Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. sas33@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Studenski
authors.forename: Subashan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perera
authors.forename: Kushang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosano
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Faulkner
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inzitari
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brach
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chandler
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cawthon
authors.forename: Elizabeth Barrett
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Connor
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nevitt
authors.forename: Marjolein
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Visser
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kritchevsky
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Badinelli
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Anne B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cauley
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrucci
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guralnik
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology