Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026
Clinical Assessment of Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters in Patients and Older Adults
Published on: November 7, 2014
Gait speed associated factors in elderly subjects undergoing exams to obtain the driver's license
Maria Angélica Binotto1, Maria Helena Lenardt2, Nathalia Hammerschmidt Kolb Carneiro3
1Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste, Departamento de Educação Física, Irati, PR, Brasil.
Objective:
to analyze the factors associated with gait speed in elderly subjects undergoing physical and mental fitness tests to obtain a driver's license.
Method:
a cross-sectional quantitative study conducted in transit agencies. The probabilistic sample included 421 elderly (≥ 60 years old). The study was developed through application of questionnaires and tests that assess the frailty phenotype. For evaluating gait speed, the time spent by each participant to walk a 4.6 meter distance at normal pace on a flat surface was timed. Data were analyzed by using multiple linear regression and the stepwise method. The R statistical program version 3.4.0 was adopted.
Results:
there was a significant association between gait speed and paid work (<0.0000), body mass index (<0.0000), Mini-Mental State Examination (=0.0366), physical frailty (pre-frail =0.0063 and non-frail <0.0000), age (<0.0000), sex (=0.0255), and manual grip strength (<0.0000).
Conclusion:
elderly drivers who do not work, women of advanced age, high body mass index, low score in the Mini-Mental State Examination, low hand grip strength, and frail tend to decrease gait speed and should be a priority of interventions.
