Review | Review characteristics | Risk of bias | Summary of key findings | Interpretation |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ambrose [19] | Narrative | High | No data to extract | Unclear |
Abellan Van Kan [22] | Systematic review without meta-analysis (n = 4, 9477 participants) Community-dwelling older adults | High | All demonstrated gait speed was an independent predictor of falls or falls related fracture. Gait speed reported as at usual pace. | Favourable |
Pamoukdjian [34] | Systematic review without meta-analysis (n = 9, 6357 participants) Community-dwelling | High | Recommend evaluating gait speed over a distance of 4 m with a threshold of 1 m/s in a single measure as a screening tool for frailty in older patients with cancer (aged 65 years and older); those with gait speed < 1 m/s over a 4-m distance should then be assessed with a CGA. | Favourable |
Lee [29] | Systematic review without meta-analysis (n = 2) Mixed settings | High | Community dwelling older people (n = 1): - 6-m walk test 50% sensitivity, 68% specificity, 37% positive predictive value Outpatient stroke clinics (n = 1): - 10-MWT sensitivity 80%, specificity 58%, positive predictive value 64%, negative predictive value 76%, AUC (95%CI) 0.74 (0.64–0.81) | Favourable for stroke patients |
Scott [35] | Systematic review without meta-analysis (n = 1) Mixed settings | High | Long term care setting: IRR = 0.88 and not reported as an independent predictor for falls. | Not favourable |
Dolatabadi [26] | Systematic review without meta-analysis (n = 6) Older adults with diagnosis of dementia | Unclear | Gait speeds were often found to differentiate between faller and non-faller in a dementia population. No specific synthesis of data to extract from the review. | Favourable |
Chantanachai [38] | Meta-analysis (n = 18) Older people with cognitive impairment living in the community | Low | Gait speed −0.07 (−0.28,-0.06) (4 studies, (p = 0.46) Of the eight studies that assessed gait speed, six found slow gait speed under standard conditions to predict falls | Not favourable |
Ganz [28] | Meta-analysis (n = 15) Community-dwelling older adults | Low | Taking more than 13 seconds to walk 10 m predicts recurrent falls with about the same LR as perceived mobility problems (LR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.5–2.7) | Favourable |
Marin-Jimenez [30] | Systematic review without meta-analysis (n = 25, 2 systematic reviews) Healthy community-based population older than 18 years. Sub population > 65 years old | Low | Strong evidence for slower gait predicting falls in adults over 60 years (seven studies+ seven studies from systematic reviews) Three studies did not find an association between gait speed test and falls. 6 m walk test reported | Favourable |
Menant [41] | Meta-analysis (n = 30) Mixed settings | Low | Pooled MD (95% CI) for gait speed between fallers and non-fallers (0.069 (0.045–0.094). Findings indicate single and dual task tests of gait speed are equivalent in the prediction of falls. Slower gait speeds under both single and dual-Task conditions significantly discriminate between fallers and non-fallers. The majority of included studie reported self selected gait speed with two studies reporting unclear specifications. | Favourable |