Gait Features In Single-task And Dual-task Walking Test And Influencing Factors Among Community-dwelling Elderly People

Objective The research is to investigate gait features and their influencing factors among community-dwelling elderly people who walk 10 meters in single-task and dual-task walking tests,in order to provide evidence for early detection of elderly people at high risk of abnormal gait and fall prevention in clinical.Methods From September 2015 to June 2016,a convenience sample of 268 community-dwelling elderly people met the inclusion and exclusion criteria in this study.The questionnaires were completed for all participants to collect social demographics,anthropometric and health-related factors,such as gender,age,marriage condition,living pattern,education level,medication intake,frequency of exercise,history of fall,fear of falling,Barthel Index,MMSE,hand-grip strength,the Timed Up & Go Test,and so on.Gait parameters in single-task and dual-task walking tests were measured by IDEEA Life Gait when participants walked 10 meters on a flat walkway.We used Epi Data3.1 software for entering data and SPSS16.0 software for statistical analysis.Single factor analysis,correlation analysis and multiple factor analysis were used to explore the influencing effect of such factors on gait parameters.Results In our study,10 cases with incomplete data and 6 cases failed to gait analysis were excluded,finally 252 community-dwelling elderly people were included for the final analysis,and the efficient rate was 94.03%.Of 252 participants,126 were male(50.0%),126 were female(50.0%),and the mean age was(72.4±7.0)years.In single-task walking test,the gait cycle duration was(1.07±0.12)s,the walking velocity was(66.74±13.11)m/min,the cadence was(114.37±11.38)steps/min,the step length was(0.58±0.08)m and the stride length was(1.15±0.15)m among community-dwelling elderly people.And the gait cycle duration was(1.33±0.28)s,the walking velocity was(51.75±14.14)m/min,the cadence was(95.34±16.77)steps/min,the step length was(0.54±0.08)m and the stride length was(1.06±0.17)m in dual-task walking test.Compared with single-task walking test,the participants had statistically significant longer gait cycle duration,slower walking velocity and cadence,shorter step length and stride length in dual-task walking test(all p<0.05).Multiple regression analysis showed that the main factors influencing gait features of community-dwelling elderly people in single-task and dual-task walking test were gender,age,weight,height,medication intake,hand-grip strength and TUGT(all p<0.05).Conclusions We can conclude that the second cognitive task can make gait features of community-dwelling elderly people become worse.Multiple factors contribute to gait features in single-task and dual-task walking test,such as gender,age,height,weight,medication intake,hand grip strength,and TUGT.IDEEA Life Gait can be used to measure gait parameters of elderly people quantitatively and objectively,so as to provide important evidence for early detection of elderly people at high risk of abnormal gait and fall prevention.This study also suggest that medical workers should pay more attention to regular dynamic gait assessment of elderly people,encourage them to enhance exercise and balance capacity training,and take medication more reasonably and correctly.These measures aim to improve their walking capacity and quality of life,as well as provide some reference for an aging society to solve health problems of elderly people.