title: Total hip arthroplasty in the elderly: impact on functional performance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare gait and functional performance parameters in elderly subjects who had or had not total hip arthroplasty (THA).
  
  
  METHODS
  Our sample comprised 23 elderly subjects (72±6.5 years of age) with a mean of 2.6±1.3 years following THA, named the arthroplasty group (AG) and 23 asymptomatic elderly subjects (70.1±5.9 years of age), named the control group (CG). Case and control subjects were paired by gender, age, body mass index and level of physical activity. The GAITRite® system was used to analyze various gait parameters in four situations: usual speed (US), fast speed (FS), slow speed (SS) and dual task (DT); the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) and Timed Up and Go test (TUG) methods were used to evaluate functional capacity. The statistical analyses were carried out using the Shapiro-Wilk test, Student's-t-tests for independent samples, chi-square tests, ANOVA for repeated measurements and paired Student's-t-tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AG had the worst results for gait speed (AG=1.18±0.13 and CG=1.39±0.09; p=0.012), symmetry index (SI) of step length (AG=3.60±1.01 and CG=1.12±0.59; p=0.000), SI of step time (AG=-2.65±0.92 and CG=0.99±0.74; p=0.000), SI of stance phase (AG=-2.55 and CG=-1.04±0.50; p=0.005), SI of single support phase (AG=-2.17±0.78 and CG=1.21±0.51; p=0.003), DGI (AG=20.04±1.91 and CG=21.69±1.45; p=0.001) and TUG (AG=14.67±1.94 and CG=10.08±1.49; p=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elderly subjects with a history of THA had changes in gait parameters and lower performance in TUG test even 2.6±1,3 years after surgery, which suggests functional impairment.
authors.affiliation: Centro Universitário de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. ritadecassiaguedes@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Rita C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Guedes
authors.forename: João M D
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.forename: Rosângela C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.forename: Viviane S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Borges
authors.forename: Lygia P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lustosa
authors.forename: Nayza M B
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Rosa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male