Can gait speed test be used as a falls risk screening tool in community dwelling older adults? A review

IntroductionGait speed is a simple and easy to perform outcome measure that does not require expensive equipment or complex instructions. However, whether gait speed test can be used as a falls risk screening tool among community dwelling older adults is still unclear.AimThe objective of this review was to summarize the evidence on gait speed as a falls risk screening tool among community dwelling older adults.Material and methodsArticles were searched from two electronic databases, reference lists of studies and reviewed articles. Five articles met the criteria for review.Results and discussionBased on the review performed, it was concluded that there is no consensus whether gait speed can be used to identify fallers and non-fallers among community dwelling older adults. The discrimination and predictive validity of gait speed as a tool to identify the risk of falls is not available. However, risk of falls have been categorized into four categories based on gait speed. The categories were <0.6 m/s as slow, 0.6–1.0 m/s as intermediate, 1.0–1.3 m/s as normal performance walker and >1.3 m/s as fast performance walker. Majority of authors have reported high risk of falls among groups with gait speed that ranged 0.6–1.0 m/s. This suggests that decreased gait speed among older adults would likely increase the probability of falls risk.ConclusionsThe discrimination and predictive validity of gait speed test as a tool to identify the risk of falls among community dwelling older adults is yet to be established.