Walking Speed and Mortality - An updated systematic review

• Type: Thesis
• Date: 2021-03-09

Authors

Irene Rosmaninho Coelho (Author) FMUP

Thesis

Walking Speed and Mortality - An updated systematic review

Master's Degree

Dissertation

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Clinical medicine

Associated Institutions

FMUP - Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto

Other information

Abstract (EN): Background: Walking speed (or gait speed) has been recommended as a useful clinical indicator of well-being among older adults and has been shown to be predictive of adverse health events and mortality. Objective: The aim of our systematic review is to update the current evidence on the association between slow walking speed and mortality, expanding the current knowledge available in literature. Methods: A systematic review of the published data on the association of walking speed and mortality was carried out by searching on PubMed and ISI Web of Knowledge databases. Results: From title and abstract analysis, 55 articles were included that met the prespecified criteria. After full-text analysis, six articles were excluded and the remaining accounted for 120,838 patients and more than 25,148 deaths were registered. The duration of follow-ups ranged between 2 and 21 years. In general, studies have shown a consistent association between walking speed and mortality from all causes. Conclusions: Walking speed showed continuous and consistent evidence to be a good predictor of mortality. Thus, our study supports the use of this tool in clinical practice as a way to improve health care.

Language: Portuguese