Premium
Idiopathic Senile Gait Disorders Are Signs of Subclinical Disease
Author(s) -
Bloem B. R.,
Gussekloo J.,
Lagaay A. M.,
Remarque E. J.,
Haan J.,
Westendorp R. G. J.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2000.tb04786.x
Subject(s) - medicine , gait , subclinical infection , disease , population , proportional hazards model , physical therapy , environmental health
OBJECTIVES : To evaluate survival and causes of death in subjects with idiopathic senile gait disorders. DESIGN : A population‐based longitudinal study. SETTING : Survival analysis of the oldest old within the Leiden 85‐plus Study. PARTICIPANTS : We distinguished three different groups according to their gait: subjects with a normal gait (n = 25), subjects with senile gait disorders (n = 14), and subjects with gait disorders due to known disease (n = 87). The mean age was 90 years in all groups (range 87 to 97 years). MEASUREMENTS : The risk of all cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality was estimated over 5 years of follow‐up in a Cox‐proportional hazards model, adjusted for age and sex. RESULTS : Eighty‐nine of 126 subjects died during follow‐up. Mean survival differed among the three groups ( P log‐rank = .01). All cause mortality risk was increased in subjects with senile gait disorders compared with subjects with a normal gait (RR = 2.8; 95% CI, 1.1–7.3, P = .03) and was similar to subjects with gait disorders caused by known disease (RR = 1.2; 95% CI: .6–2.5, P = .6). Mortality caused by cardiovascular disease also differed among the three groups (P log‐rank = .03). The risk of cardiovascular death in subjects with senile gait disorders was twofold greater than in subjects with a normal gait (RR = 2.1; 95% CI, 0.4–10.3). CONCLUSIONS : Senile gait disorders are related to subclinical, perhaps cardiovascular, disease. Senile gait disorders should not be accepted as an inevitable, benign concomitant of the normal aging process.