Researchers at Center for Gerontology and Social Science Have Published New Study Findings on Neural Engineering and Rehabilitation (Spatio-temporal gait variables predicted incident disability)

2020 FEB 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Disease Prevention Daily -- Researchers detail new data in neural engineering and rehabilitation. According to news reporting from the Center for Gerontology and Social Science by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Assessing the risk of disability in older adults is important for developing prevention and intervention strategies to decrease potential disability and dependency. The aim of this study was to examine the association between spatio-temporal gait variables and disability among older adults.”

Financial supporters for this research include Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology.

Our news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Center for Gerontology and Social Science: “We conducted a prospective study in a community setting. We collected data from 4121 subjects ( 65 years, mean age: 71.9 years). Gait speed, cadence, stride length, and stride length variability were measured at baseline. Participants were instructed to walk at their usual pace along a 6.4 m straight and flat path on which an electronic gait measuring device was mounted at mid 2.4 m. Subsequent disability was confirmed from long-term care insurance records. During follow-up duration (mean: 49.6 months), 425 participants had incident disability. The cut-off value to detect high or low function in each gait variable was determined using the Youden index. Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusted for covariates showed that disability was significantly predicted by low function in each gait variable using the cut-off values: gait speed (hazard ratio [95% confidential intervals]: 2.06 [1.65-2.57]), stride length (2.17 [1.72-2.73]), cadence (1.49 [1.20-1.86], and stride length variability (1.46 [1.19-1.80]). The number of gait variables that scored in the low function category were also cumulatively related to subsequent disability (p < .001).”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “This study revealed that spatio-temporal gait variables had a significant predictive value for incident disability. Multifaceted and quantitative gait analysis can contribute to disability risk assessment.”

For more information on this research see: Spatio-temporal gait variables predicted incident disability. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2020,17(1):1-7. (Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation - http://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com). The publisher for Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation is BMC.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-020-0643-4.

Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting Takehiko Doi, Department of Preventive Gerontology, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. Additional authors for this research include Sho Nakakubo, Kota Tsutsumimoto, Min-Ji Kim, Satoshi Kurita, Hideaki Ishii, Hiroyuki Shimada.

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