Reliability of two gait speed tests of different timed phases and equal non-timed phases in community-dwelling older persons

Abstract

Background Gait speed is a fast, low cost and accurate measurement for evaluating older persons’ functional ability, both health and with comorbidities. Previous studies have evaluated gait speed measured over courses of varying distances, but the non-timed phases are not measured uniformly. It is unknown if this affects the results of the test. Objective This study aims to evaluate the reliability of the running speed test of two different timed phases compared to the same nontimed phases. Methods We conducted a descriptive reliability study, with an observational and cross-sectional analytical design. One hundred thirty-six older persons were inclu-ded. Two gait speed tests were taken, one of 4 and 10 meters, and 2 meters for the acceleration/deceleration phase for both tests. The average of two attempts was obtained as a final measure of each test. The intraclass correlation coeffi-cient was used to express the results (ICC) with a fixed effects model and the Bland and Altman method (confidence interval of 95%), complemented with the standard error of the mean and minimal detectable change with 95% confidence values (MDC95).