Rubin Daniel S, Hung Anthony, Yamamoto Emi, Hedeker Donald, Conroy David E, Huisingh-Scheetz Megan, Brach Jennifer S, Glynn Nancy W, Danilovich Margaret K
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Jul 16;20(7):e0323759. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323759. eCollection 2025.
Walking cadence has been suggested as a measure of activity intensity; however, it remains uncertain if prefrail and frail older adults can increase their walking cadence and if doing so leads to improvements in functional capacity. We aimed to determine if cadence can be increased and if this leads to improvement in functional capacity in prefrail and frail older adults. We performed a secondary data analysis of a walking intervention in prefrail and frail older adults living in retirement communities. Patients were randomized to Casual Speed Walking (CSW) and High-Intensity Walking (HIW) groups. Our primary outcome was improvement in 6-minute walk test distance above the minimally clinical important difference. We performed linear and logistic mixed-effects regressions to analyze our aims. 102 participants were included in the final analysis with 56 in the CSW group and 46 in the HIW group. Participants in the HIW group increased their walking cadence as compared to the CSW group during the intervention (HIW 100[88, 111] steps/min vs. CSW 77[65, 86] steps/min; P < 0.001). Participants that increased their walking cadence demonstrated an increased odds of improvement in their 6-minute walk test minimum clinically important difference (OR: 0.11, 95% CI: 0.033, 0.18; p = 0.005). Older adults can increase their walking cadence and walking cadence can serve as a surrogate measure of activity intensity during walking interventions. An increase of 14 steps/minute from their comfortable walking cadence increased the odds of improvement in 6-minute walk test minimum clinically important difference.
步行节奏已被提议作为活动强度的一项衡量指标；然而，身体虚弱前期和虚弱的老年人是否能够提高其步行节奏，以及这样做是否会带来功能能力的改善，仍不明确。我们旨在确定身体虚弱前期和虚弱的老年人是否能够提高节奏，以及这是否会带来功能能力的改善。我们对居住在退休社区的身体虚弱前期和虚弱的老年人进行的一项步行干预研究进行了二次数据分析。患者被随机分为慢速随意步行（CSW）组和高强度步行（HIW）组。我们的主要结局是6分钟步行试验距离的改善超过最小临床重要差异。我们进行了线性和逻辑混合效应回归分析来实现我们的研究目的。最终分析纳入了102名参与者，其中CSW组56名，HIW组46名。与CSW组相比，HIW组在干预期间步行节奏增加（HIW组100[88, 111]步/分钟，CSW组77[65, 86]步/分钟；P < 0.001）。步行节奏增加的参与者在6分钟步行试验最小临床重要差异方面改善的几率增加（比值比：0.11，95%置信区间：0.033，0.18；p = 0.005）。老年人能够提高其步行节奏，并且步行节奏可作为步行干预期间活动强度的替代指标。与舒适步行节奏相比，每分钟增加14步可增加6分钟步行试验最小临床重要差异改善的几率。
