Screening accuracy of percentage predicted gait speed for prefrailty/frailty in community-dwelling older adults.

Aim: In order to account for the variability in gait speed due to demographic factors, an observed gait speed value can be compared with its predicted value based on age, sex, and body height (observed gait speed divided by predicted gait speed, termed "GS%predicted" henceforth). This study aimed to examine the screening accuracy of an optimal GS%predicted threshold for prefrailty/frailty.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 998 community-dwelling ambulant participants aged >50 years (mean age = 68 years). Participants completed a multi-domain geriatric screen and a physical fitness assessment, from which the 10-m habitual gait speed, GS%predicted, Physical Frailty Phenotype (PFP) index, and 36-item Frailty Index (FI) were computed.

Results: Based on the FI, ~49% of participants had pre-frailty or frailty. The optimal threshold of GS%predicted (0.93) had greater screening accuracy than the 1.0 m/s fixed threshold for gait speed (AUC, 0.65 vs. 0.60; DeLong's P < 0.001). Replacing gait speed with GS%predicted in the PFP improved its overall discrimination (AUC, 0.70 vs. 0.67 of original PFP; DeLong's P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Defining a "slow" gait speed by a GS%predicted value of <0.93 provided greater screening accuracy than the traditional 1.0 m/s threshold for gait speed. Our results also support the use of GS%predicted-derived PFP to identify older adults at risk of prefrailty/frailty. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 575-580.