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REVIEW PAPER
Can gait speed test be used as a falls risk screening tool in community dwelling older adults? A review
1
Physiotherapy Programme, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
2
Department of Medical Rehabilitation Services, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center, Malaysia
3
Nutrition and Dietetics Programme, School of Healthcare Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
Submission date: 2014-08-16
Acceptance date: 2015-04-27
Online publication date: 2015-07-07
Publication date: 2020-03-23
Corresponding author
Devinder Kaur Ajit Singh
Physiotherapy Program, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia. Tel.: +60 1 2546 6442.
Physiotherapy Program, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia. Tel.: +60 1 2546 6442.
Pol. Ann. Med. 2016;23(1):61-67
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Gait speed is a simple and easy to perform outcome measure that does not require expensive equipment or complex instructions. However, whether gait speed test can be used as a falls risk screening tool among community dwelling older adults is still unclear.
Aim:
The objective of this review was to summarize the evidence on gait speed as a falls risk screening tool among community dwelling older adults.
Material and methods:
Articles were searched from two electronic databases, reference lists of studies and reviewed articles. Five articles met the criteria for review.
Results and discussion:
Based on the review performed, it was concluded that there is no consensus whether gait speed can be used to identify fallers and non-fallers among community dwelling older adults. The discrimination and predictive validity of gait speed as a tool to identify the risk of falls is not available. However, risk of falls have been categorized into four categories based on gait speed. The categories were <0.6 m/s as slow, 0.6–1.0 m/s as intermediate, 1.0–1.3 m/s as normal performance walker and >1.3 m/s as fast performance walker. Majority of authors have reported high risk of falls among groups with gait speed that ranged 0.6–1.0 m/s. This suggests that decreased gait speed among older adults would likely increase the probability of falls risk.
Conclusions:
The discrimination and predictive validity of gait speed test as a tool to identify the risk of falls among community dwelling older adults is yet to be established.
Gait speed is a simple and easy to perform outcome measure that does not require expensive equipment or complex instructions. However, whether gait speed test can be used as a falls risk screening tool among community dwelling older adults is still unclear.
Aim:
The objective of this review was to summarize the evidence on gait speed as a falls risk screening tool among community dwelling older adults.
Material and methods:
Articles were searched from two electronic databases, reference lists of studies and reviewed articles. Five articles met the criteria for review.
Results and discussion:
Based on the review performed, it was concluded that there is no consensus whether gait speed can be used to identify fallers and non-fallers among community dwelling older adults. The discrimination and predictive validity of gait speed as a tool to identify the risk of falls is not available. However, risk of falls have been categorized into four categories based on gait speed. The categories were <0.6 m/s as slow, 0.6–1.0 m/s as intermediate, 1.0–1.3 m/s as normal performance walker and >1.3 m/s as fast performance walker. Majority of authors have reported high risk of falls among groups with gait speed that ranged 0.6–1.0 m/s. This suggests that decreased gait speed among older adults would likely increase the probability of falls risk.
Conclusions:
The discrimination and predictive validity of gait speed test as a tool to identify the risk of falls among community dwelling older adults is yet to be established.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study is a part of a larger in progress study funded by grants from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Komuniti-2012-003) and Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia through Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (LRGS/BU/2012/
UKM-UKM/K/01).
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
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