Associations Between Gait Speed and Fat Mass in Older Adults

Purpose: Although both gait speed and fat mass are crucial for healthy aging, evidence suggests that the associations between these components remain unclear. Therefore, the main purpose of the study was to examine the associations between gait speed and fat mass.
Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 643 older men and women aged > 60 years. Fat mass was assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis, while gait speed was determined by calculating the time an individual has taken to walk across a 4.6-m distance. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and odds ratios (OR) were performed to determine cut-off points and mutual associations.
Results: In older men, the optimal threshold of gait speed to detect high level of fat mass was 1.40 m/s with the area under the curve (AUC) being 0.82 (95% CI 0.76– 0.89, p < 0.001). In older women, the optimal cut-off point was 1.37 m/s (AUC = 0.85, 95% CI 0.81– 0.90, p < 0.001). Older men and women who walked below the newly developed threshold were approximately 12 times more likely to have high level of fat.
Conclusion: In summary, newly developed cut-off points of gait speed have adequate discriminatory ability to detect older men and women with high level of fat mass. Although gait speed may be considered as a satisfactory screening tool for fat mass, its utility in clinical practice needs to be further investigated.

Keywords: body composition, physical performance, aging, cut-points, associations