Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Bitgoeul Hospital, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Graduate School of Health Science and Management, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
J Med Internet Res. 2021 Oct 11;23(10):e29884. doi: 10.2196/29884.
Gait speed measurements are widely used in clinical practice, as slow gait is a major predictor of frailty and a diagnostic criterion for sarcopenia. With the development of wearable devices, it is possible to estimate the gait speed in daily life by simply wearing the device.
This study aims to accurately determine the characteristics of daily life gait speed and analyze their association with sarcopenia.
We invited community-dwelling men aged >50 years who had visited the outpatient clinic at a tertiary university hospital to participate in the study. Daily life gait speed was assessed using a wearable smart belt (WELT) for a period of 4 weeks. Data from participants who wore the smart belt for at least 10 days during this period were included. After 4 weeks, data from a survey about medical and social history, usual gait speed measurements, handgrip strength measurements, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry were analyzed.
A total of 217,578 daily life gait speed measurements from 106 participants (mean age 71.1, SD 7.6 years) were analyzed. The mean daily life gait speed was 1.23 (SD 0.26) m/s. The daily life gait speed of the participants varied according to the time of the day and day of the week. Daily life gait speed significantly slowed down with age (P<.001). Participants with sarcopenia had significantly lower mean daily life gait speed (mean 1.12, SD 0.11 m/s) than participants without sarcopenia (mean 1.23, SD 0.08 m/s; P<.001). Analysis of factors related to mean daily life gait speed showed that age and skeletal muscle mass of the lower limbs were significantly associated characteristics.
More diverse and accurate information about gait speed can be obtained by measuring daily life gait speed using a wearable device over an appropriate period, compared with one-time measurements performed in a laboratory setting. Importantly, in addition to age, daily life gait speed is significantly associated with skeletal muscle mass of the lower limbs.
步态速度测量在临床实践中被广泛应用，因为缓慢的步态是虚弱的主要预测指标，也是肌少症的诊断标准。随着可穿戴设备的发展，通过简单地佩戴设备就可以在日常生活中估计步态速度。
本研究旨在准确确定日常生活步态速度的特征，并分析其与肌少症的关系。
我们邀请了年龄大于 50 岁、曾在一所三级大学医院门诊就诊的社区居民参加研究。使用可穿戴智能腰带（WELT）评估日常生活步态速度，为期 4 周。在此期间，至少佩戴智能腰带 10 天的参与者的数据被纳入研究。4 周后，对参与者的医疗和社会史、日常步态速度测量、握力测量和双能 X 线吸收法进行了分析。
共分析了 106 名参与者的 217578 次日常生活步态速度测量值（平均年龄 71.1 岁，标准差 7.6 岁）。日常生活步态速度的平均值为 1.23（标准差 0.26）m/s。参与者的日常生活步态速度随时间和星期而变化。日常生活步态速度随年龄的增长而显著减慢（P<.001）。有肌少症的参与者的平均日常生活步态速度明显低于无肌少症的参与者（分别为 1.12（标准差 0.11）m/s 和 1.23（标准差 0.08）m/s；P<.001）。与平均日常生活步态速度相关的因素分析显示，年龄和下肢骨骼肌量是显著相关的特征。
与在实验室环境中进行一次性测量相比，通过在适当的时间内使用可穿戴设备测量日常生活步态速度，可以获得更多样、更准确的步态速度信息。重要的是，除了年龄，日常生活步态速度与下肢骨骼肌量显著相关。
