title: Factors Contributing to 50-ft Walking Speed and Observed Ethnic Differences in Older Community-Dwelling Mexican Americans and European Americans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mexican Americans comprise the most rapidly growing segment of the older US population and are reported to have poorer functional health than European Americans, but few studies have examined factors contributing to ethnic differences in walking speed between Mexican Americans and European Americans.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine factors that contribute to walking speed and observed ethnic differences in walking speed in older Mexican Americans and European Americans using the disablement process model (DPM) as a guide.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was an observational, cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 703 Mexican American and European American older adults (aged 65 years and older) who completed the baseline examination of the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA). Hierarchical regression models were performed to identify the contribution of contextual, lifestyle/anthropometric, disease, and impairment variables to walking speed and to ethnic differences in walking speed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ethic difference in unadjusted mean walking speed (Mexican Americans=1.17 m/s, European Americans=1.29 m/s) was fully explained by adjustment for contextual (ie, age, sex, education, income) and lifestyle/anthropometric (ie, body mass index, height, physical activity) variables; adjusted mean walking speed in both ethnic groups was 1.23 m/s. Contextual variables explained 20.3% of the variance in walking speed, and lifestyle/anthropometric variables explained an additional 8.4%. Diseases (ie, diabetes, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) explained an additional 1.9% of the variance in walking speed; impairments (ie, FEV1, upper leg pain, and lower extremity strength and range of motion) contributed an additional 5.5%. Thus, both nonmodifiable (ie, contextual, height) and modifiable (ie, impairments, body mass index, physical activity) factors contributed to walking speed in older Mexican Americans and European Americans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study was conducted in a single geographic area and included only Mexican American Hispanic individuals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Walking speed in older Mexican Americans and European Americans is influenced by modifiable and nonmodifiable factors, underscoring the importance of the DPM framework, which incorporates both factors into the physical therapist patient/client management process.
authors.affiliation: M.U. Quiben, PT, PhD, DPT, MS, GCS, NCS, Department of Physical Therapy, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, MET-555, Ft Worth, TX 76107 (USA). Myla.Quiben@unthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Myla U
authors.initials: MU
authors.lastname: Quiben
authors.affiliation: H.P. Hazuda, PhD, Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas.
authors.forename: Helen P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Hazuda
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004522:Educational Status; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D057187:Independent Living; D008019:Life Style / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D053580:Muscle Strength; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology; D059352:Musculoskeletal Pain / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D012737:Sex Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014481:United States; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*; D044465:White People