Factors associated with impairment in gait speed in older people with clinically normal gait. A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Health professionals commonly use gait speed in the evaluation of functional status in older people. However, only a limited number of studies have assessed gait speed in the absence of disorders of gait, using confounding factors and exclusion criteria coming from studies conducted in younger people. Our study aims to analyse which factors are associated with gait speed in older people with normal clinical gait. METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in 119 community-dwelling residents without relevant comorbidities (Charlson index < 2), preserved function (Barthel > 85) and normal gait by visual exploration. Exclusion criteria included suffering from any illness that could modify the characteristics of gait, terminal status or the presence of an acute medical illness in the past 3 months. We used a stepwise linear regression of several variables (sociodemographic characteristics, cognition, body composition, drugs, falls, sarcopenia, frailty and physical activity) on 6-metre gait speed. RESULTS: The mean age was 78 years (range 70-96 years) and 71.4% were women. Variables that remained associated with gait speed in the multivariate final model were age (B = - 0.020, p < 0.001); gender (B = - 0.184, p < 0.001); waist-to-height ratio (B = - 0.834, p = 0.002); number of falls (B = - 0.049, p = 0.003) and the number of Fried's frailty criteria (B = - 0.064, p = 0.019). CONCLUSION: Falls, frailty and the waist-to-height ratio modify gait speed in older people with normal gait. Studies analysing the potential effect of several factors on gait speed should consider them as confounding factors.

Building Bridges for Innovation in Ageing: Synergies between Action Groups of the EIP on AHA.

The Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) proposed six Action Groups. After almost three years of activity, many achievements have been obtained through commitments or collaborative work of the Action Groups. However, they have often worked in silos and, consequently, synergies between Action Groups have been proposed to strengthen the triple win of the EIP on AHA. The paper presents the methodology and current status of the Task Force on EIP on AHA synergies. Synergies are in line with the Action Groups' new Renovated Action Plan (2016-2018) to ensure that their future objectives are coherent and fully connected. The outcomes and impact of synergies are using the Monitoring and Assessment Framework for the EIP on AHA (MAFEIP). Eight proposals for synergies have been approved by the Task Force: Five cross-cutting synergies which can be used for all current and future synergies as they consider overarching domains (appropriate polypharmacy, citizen empowerment, teaching and coaching on AHA, deployment of synergies to EU regions, Responsible Research and Innovation), and three cross-cutting synergies focussing on current Action Group activities (falls, frailty, integrated care and chronic respiratory diseases).