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. 2017 Mar;65(3):614-618.
doi: 10.1111/jgs.14705. Epub 2016 Dec 28.

Combining Gait Speed and Recall Memory to Predict Survival in Late Life: Population-Based Study

Alessandra Marengoni  1 , Stefania Bandinelli  2 , Elisa Maietti  3 , Jack Guralnik  4 , Giovanni Zuliani  3 , Luigi Ferrucci  5 , Stefano Volpato  3
Affiliations

Combining Gait Speed and Recall Memory to Predict Survival in Late Life: Population-Based Study

Alessandra Marengoni et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between gait speed, recall memory, and mortality.

Design: A cohort study (last follow-up December 2009).

Setting: Tuscany, Italy.

Participants: Individual data from 1,014 community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years or older with baseline gait speed and recall memory measurements and follow-up for a median time of 9.10 (IQR 7.1;9.3) years. Participants were a mean (SD) age of 73.9 (7.3) years, and 55.8% women. Participants walking faster than 0.8 m/s were defined as fast walkers; good recall memory was defined as a score of 2 or 3 in the 3-word delayed recall section of the Mini-Mental State Examination.

Measurements: All-cause mortality.

Results: There were 302 deaths and the overall 100 person-year death rate was 3.77 (95% CI: 3.37-4.22). Both low gait speed and poor recall memory were associated with mortality when analysed separately (HR = 2.47; 95% CI: 1.87-3.27 and HR = 1.47; 95% CI: 1.16-1.87, respectively). When we grouped participants according to both recall and gait speed, death rates (100 person-years) progressively increased from those with both good gait speed and memory (2.0; 95% CI: 1.6-2.5), to those with fast walk but poor memory (3.4; 95% CI: 2.8-4.2), to those with slow walk and good memory (8.8; 95% CI: 6.4-12.1), to those with both slow walk and poor memory (13.0; 95% CI: 10.6-16.1). In multivariate analysis, poor memory significantly increases mortality risk among persons with fast gait speed (HR = 1.40; 95% CI: 1.04-1.89).

Conclusion: In older persons, gait speed and recall memory are independent predictors of expected survival. Information on memory function might better stratify mortality risk among persons with fast gait speed.

Keywords: gait speed; older persons; recall memory; survival.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors declare: no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; and no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Financial Disclosure: The InCHIANTI Study (Invecchiare in Chianti, aging in the Chianti area) is currently supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIH, NIA, Bethesda, MD USA) and is coordinated by the Tuscany Regional Health Agency in a partnership with the Florence Health Care Agency, the local Administrators and the primary care physicians of Greve in Chianti and Bagno a Ripoli, the two small towns in the countryside of Tuscany were the study was conducted. The study was initially managed by the National Institute on Research and Care of the Elderly (INRCA, Ancona, Italy) and it was funded by Italian Health Ministry and by a NIH contract.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan-Meier survival curves according to recall memory and gait speed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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