title: The associations of alcohol, coffee and tobacco consumption with gait in a community-dwelling population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Gait is an important health indicator, relating strongly to the risk of falling, morbidity and mortality. In a community-dwelling population, we investigated associations of alcohol, coffee and tobacco consumption with gait.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two thousand forty-six non-demented participants from the Rotterdam Study underwent gait assessment by electronic walkway. We measured gait velocity and Global Gait, which is the average of seven gait domains: Rhythm, Phases, Variability, Pace, Tandem, Turning and Base of Support. Alcohol, coffee and tobacco consumption was assessed by questionnaires. With analysis of covariance, we investigated associations of consumption of alcoholic beverages, coffee consumption and smoking with Global Gait, gait velocity and the seven individual gait domains.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all, 81.9% of participants drank alcohol, 92.4% drank coffee, 17.3% were current smokers and 50.9% were past smokers. Moderate alcohol consumption (1-3 glasses per day) associated with better gait, as measured by Global Gait (0.20 standard deviations (s.d.) (95% confidence interval: 0.10; 0.31)), gait velocity (2.65 cm/s (0.80; 4.50)), Rhythm and Variability. Consuming high amounts of coffee (>3 cups per day) associated with better Global Gait (0.18 s.d. (0.08; 0.28)), gait velocity (2.63 cm/s (0.80; 4.45)), Pace, Turning and Variability. Current smoking associated with worse Global Gait (-0.11 s.d. (-0.21; 0.00)), gait velocity (-3.47 cm/s (-5.33; -1.60)), Rhythm and Pace, compared with non-smokers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a community-dwelling population, consuming >1 cup of coffee and 1-3 glasses of alcohol relate to better gait, whereas smoking is related to worse gait. Further studies are required to evaluate whether interventions targeting substance consumption may aid to prevent or reduce gait deterioration and thereby related health problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Department of Radiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: V J A
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Verlinden
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maksimovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Mirza
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Department of Radiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Department of Neurology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ikram
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kiefte-de Jong
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: O H
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4395-1397
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tiemeier
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: van der Geest
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D040503:Coffea; D003069:Coffee; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012907:Smoking; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D003069:Coffee; D000431:Ethanol