Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026
Clinical Assessment of Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters in Patients and Older Adults
Published on: November 7, 2014
Establishing Prognostic Value for Gait Speed and Hand Grip Strength in Predicting Hospitalization and Mortality Risk
Hyeon Hong1, Amol Karmarkar2,3, Amit Kumar1,4
1Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
Importance:
Despite the high risks of hospitalization and mortality in older adults with cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM), risk predictions often overlook gait speed and hand-grip strength.
Objective:
The objective was to establish cut-off points for gait speed and hand grip strength for 1-year hospitalization risk and their predictive ability for 3-year mortality among older adults with CMM.
Design:
This was a retrospective cohort study using National Health and Aging Trends Study and linked Medicare claims data (2015 to 2018).
Setting:
The study was conducted in community settings.
Participants:
Participants were community-dwelling adults (N = 4157) aged 66 years and older.
Main Outcomes And Measures:
Cut-off points for gait speed and grip strength for 1-year hospitalization were established stratified by sex and CMM group. Cox proportional hazards model was employed to estimate the probability of 3-year mortality, with gait speed and grip strength, stratified by sex and CMM groups.
Results:
In male participants with CMM, the optimal cut-off points for 1-year hospitalization were 0.82kg/BMI for handgrip strength (sensitivity = 0.59, specificity = 0.85) and 0.58 meters/second for gait speed (sensitivity = 0.62, specificity = 0.92). In female participants, the cut-off points were 0.52kg/BMI (sensitivity = 0.61, specificity = 0.84) and 0.68 meters/second (sensitivity = 0.69, specificity = 0.71) to predict 1-year hospitalization. Among male participants, 3-year mortality rate was higher for those below cut-offs compared with those above (grip strength: 18.0% vs 13.6%; gait speed: 23.7% vs 12.6%). Among female participants, 3-year mortality rate was higher for those below cut-offs compared with those above (grip strength:15.1% vs 11.7%; gait speed: 16.1% vs 9.4%).
Conclusion:
Validated cut-off points for gait speed and grip strength can help predict hospitalization and mortality risk.
Relevance:
Gait speed and grip strength are quick, and reliable functional biomarkers for assessing risk in older adults. Their integration into routine clinical practice can help identify early risks and guide targeted interventions to improve outcomes.
