title: [Do you measure gait speed in your daily clinical practice? A review].
abstract: Gait speed (GS), measured at usual pace, is an easy, quick, reliable, non-expensive and informative measurement. With a standard chronometer, like those that currently found in mobile phones, and with two marks on the floor, trained health professionals obtain a more objective and quick measurement compared with many geriatric scales used in daily practice. GS is one of the pillars of the frailty phenotype, and is closely related to sarcopenia. It is a powerful marker of falls incidence, disability and death, mostly useful in the screening of older adults that live in the community. In recent years, the evidence is reinforcing the usefulness of GS in acute care and post-surgical patients. Its use in patients with cognitive impairment is suggested, due to the strong link between cognitive and physical function. Although GS meets the criteria for a good geriatric screening tool, it is not much used in clinical practice. Why? This review has different aims: (i)disentangling the relationship between GS and frailty; (ii)reviewing the protocols to measure GS and the reference values; (iii)reviewing the evidence in different clinical groups (older adults with frailty, with cognitive impairment, with cancer or other pathologies), and in different settings (community, acute care, rehabilitation), and (iv)speculating about the reasons for its poor use in clinical practice and about the gaps to be filled.
authors.affiliation: Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili, Barcelona, España; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. Electronic address: minzitari@perevirgili.catsalut.net.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inzitari
authors.affiliation: Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili, Barcelona, España; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calle
authors.affiliation: Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Esteve
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Geriatría, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra. IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, España.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Casas
authors.affiliation: Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: Núria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Torrents
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Geriatría, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra. IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, España; REDISSEC, Red de Investigación en Servicios de Salud en Enfermedades Crónicas, España.
authors.forename: Nicolás
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Martínez
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D005684:Gait; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D000072797:Walking Speed
keywords: Aging; Caídas; Dependencia; Dependency; Disability; Discapacidad; Envejecimiento; Falls; Función física; Gait speed; Physical function; Velocidad de la marcha