Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 26.
doi: 10.1007/s41999-025-01262-4. Online ahead of print.

Association between the 400-m walk test and sensor-based daily physical activity in frail and sarcopenic older adults

Jana Rogler  1 , Sebastian Krumpoch  2 , Ellen Freiberger  2 , Ulrich Lindemann  3 , Robert Kob  2
Affiliations

Association between the 400-m walk test and sensor-based daily physical activity in frail and sarcopenic older adults

Jana Rogler et al. Eur Geriatr Med. .

Abstract

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) is recommended for frail and sarcopenic older adults as an essential means of preventing negative health outcomes and decline in functional abilities. Our objective was to examine the association between the time and/or stops during the 400-m walk test (400MWT) and average daily steps and walking cadence in a German cohort of frail and sarcopenic community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: For this sub-study the German cohort of 104 frail and sarcopenic older adults (i.e., SPRINTT) aged 80.8 ± 5.2 years was divided into participants having made none or one stop or more than one stops, referred to as non-stoppers and multi-stoppers. The characteristics and general health state (physical function, disease state, concerns about falling) at first observation (FO) and individual last observation (LO) after at least 11 months (mean 24.5 ± 8.5 months) were examined. Daily PA represented by average daily steps and walking cadence was assessed over three to seven days at FO and LO using the activPAL3 micro. Time and stops made during the 400MWT and their association with daily PA were investigated using regression with bootstrapping.

Results: Out of 104 frail and sarcopenic older adults, 84 non-stoppers (female: n = 54; 64.3%) had a median time in 400MWT of 509 s (Inter Quartile Range (IQR) 324-875), a median number of daily steps of 6537 (IQR 1841-19,488) and a median daily walking cadence of 73 steps/minute (IQR 53.3-88.9). 20 multi-stoppers (female: n = 12; 60%) showed a time of 703 s (IQR 479-898), 5642 steps (IQR 2470-11,458) and a cadence of 70.7 steps/minute (IQR 61.4-83.6). Time was significantly associated with average daily steps and walking cadence at both FO and LO, stops alone were not.

Conclusion: Gait speed under laboratory conditions can be used in clinical settings and research to estimate daily PA, represented by average daily steps and cadence, in frail and sarcopenic older adults.

Keywords: 400-m walk test; Daily activity; Frailty; Older adults; Sarcopenia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funder had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study protocol was approved by the ethical committee of the medical faculty of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (191_15B). Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Alowaydhah S, Weerasekara I, Walmsley S, Marquez J (2024) Physical exercise for healthy older adults and those with frailty: what exercise is best and is there a difference? A systematic review and meta-analyses. Curr Gerontol Geriatr Res 2024:5639004. https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/5639004 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Billot M, Calvani R, Urtamo A, Sánchez-Sánchez JL, Ciccolari-Micaldi C, Chang M et al (2020) Preserving mobility in older adults with physical frailty and sarcopenia: opportunities, challenges, and recommendations for physical activity interventions. Clin Interv Aging 15:1675–1690. https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S253535 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Bahat G, Bauer J, Boirie Y, Bruyère O, Cederholm T et al (2019) Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis. Age Ageing 48:601–601. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afz046 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Rosenberg IH (1997) Sarcopenia: origins and clinical relevance. J Nutr 127:990S-991S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/127.5.990S - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fried LP, Tangen CM, Walston J, Newman AB, Hirsch C, Gottdiener J et al (2001) Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 56:M146–M157. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/56.3.M146 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources