Walking speed is associated with functional status and all-cause mortality. Yet the relationship between walking speed and stroke, also a leading cause of disability, remains poorly understood, especially in older Latino adults who suffer from a significant burden of stroke.
A total of 1,486 stroke-free participants from the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging, aged 60 and older at baseline in 1998-1999, were followed annually through 2010. Participants reported their usual walking speed outdoors which was classified into slow, medium, or fast. We also assessed timed tandem walk ability (unable or eight or more errors vs less than eight errors). We ascertained three incident stroke endpoints: total stroke, nonfatal stroke, and fatal stroke. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for stroke at different walking speed and timed tandem walk categories.
Over an average of 6 years of follow-up (SD = 2.8), the incidence rate of total strokes was 23.2/1,000 person-years for slow walkers compared to 15.6/1,000 person-years for medium walkers, and 7.6/1,000 person-years for fast walkers. In Cox models adjusted for sociodemographics, cardiovascular risk, cognition and functional status, and self-rated health, the hazard of total stroke was 31% lower for medium walkers (HR: 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.47, 1.02) and 56% lower for fast walkers (HR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.24, 0.82) compared with slow walkers. We found similar associations with timed tandem walk ability (fully adjusted HR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.45, 0.98).
Our findings suggest perceived walking speed captures more than self-rated health alone and is a strong risk factor for stroke risk in Latino older adults.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 June 2017.
All research outputs
#24,150,310
of 34,451,315 outputs
Outputs from Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences
#3,820
of 4,826 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#229,373
of 345,011 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences
#56
of 64 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,451,315 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 28th percentile – i.e., 28% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,826 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 19.3. This one is in the 18th percentile – i.e., 18% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 345,011 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 31st percentile – i.e., 31% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 64 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 10th percentile – i.e., 10% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
