Objective: Gait is the most fundamental and common form of human locomotion, essential in daily activities. We aimed to investigate gait parameters in medically and cognitively healthy older adults to determine the independent effects of age, physical attributes, and cognition on these parameters.
Methods: This retrospective study enrolled healthy older adult participants aged ≥50 years with normal cognition and no neurological symptoms or medical/surgical histories that could potentially affect gait. Quantitative gait analysis was conducted using the GAITRite Electronic Walkway, categorizing gait parameters into spatiotemporal, spatial, temporal, phase, and variability. Gait parameters were compared between sexes across different age groups. The independent effects of age, Mini-Mental State Examination scores, and physical characteristics were analyzed using a multiple regression model.
Results: This study included 184 participants with an average age of 72.2 years. After adjusting for age, height, and footwear, only the base width and its variability differed between the sexes. Gait parameters varied significantly among different age groups, revealing multiple inter-parameter associations. Age was independently correlated with decreased velocity, step and stride lengths, and single support time percentage and increased double support time, double support time percentage, and variability parameters, excluding the coefficient of variance of base width. Height was positively correlated with velocity, step and stride lengths, and base width, whereas leg length was negatively associated with cadence and positively associated with temporal parameters of gait.
Conclusions: Gait parameters in healthy older adults were not only associated with age and physical characteristics, but also had inter-parameter correlations.