Published 10 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4236
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4236

Editorials

Slow walking speed in elderly people

Is associated with vascular mortality, but may also predict future frailty

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

People who walk faster are less likely to die than slow walkers, especially from vascular disease. In the linked prospective cohort study (doi:10.1136/bmj.b4460), Dumurgier and colleagues show that this is true for walking speed measured over 6 m in 3208 relatively fit older people, over five years of follow-up.¹

Walking speed is determined by physical features such as age, sex, and height, by the presence or absence of diseases, and by physical fitness.

Evidence that exercise is beneficial for health goes back over 50 years, and includes activity during sport and work as well as fitness training. Benefits are primarily in mortality and morbidity from vascular disease, and are seen in middle aged and older people, and those with and without established cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, or obesity.^{2 3}

Diseases that slow down walking include musculoskeletal, cardiac, respiratory, neurological, and psychiatric disorders. Some of these are associated with excess . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, ² University of Leicester School of Medicine, Clinical Sciences Building, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester LE2 7LX

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Slow walking speed and cardiovascular death in well functioning older adults: prospective cohort study

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