Associations between body composition and gait-speed decline: results from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition 2013-03, Vol.97 (3), p.552-560
• Main Authors: Beavers, Kristen M, Beavers, Daniel P, Houston, Denise K, Harris, Tamara B, Hue, Trisha F, Koster, Annemarie, Newman, Anne B, Simonsick, Eleanor M, Studenski, Stephanie A, Nicklas, Barbara J, Kritchevsky, Stephen B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adiposity; Aged; Aging; Aging - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body Composition - physiology; Body fat; clinical nutrition; elderly; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; gait; Gait - physiology; Health Status; Humans; Male; men; Mobility; Mortality; Muscle, Skeletal; muscles; Muscular system; Older people; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; walking; Walking - physiology; women
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.112.047860

Background: In older adults, every 0.1-m/s slower gait speed is associated with a 12% higher mortality. However, little research has identified risk factors for gait-speed decline.Objective: We assessed the association between several measures of body composition and age-related decline in gait speed.Design: Data were from 2306 older adults who were participating in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition cohort and were followed for 4 y (50% women; 38% black). Usual walking speed (m/s) over 20 m was measured in years 2 through 6, and the baseline and changes in several measures of body composition were included in mixed-effects models.Results: Gait speed declined by 0.06 ± 0.00 m/s over the 4-y period. Baseline thigh intermuscular fat predicted the annual gait-speed decline (±SE) in both men and women (−0.01 ± 0.00 and −0.02 ± 0.00 m/s per 0.57 cm2, respectively; P < 0.01). In men, but not in women, this relation was independent of total body adiposity. In longitudinal analyses, changes in thigh intermuscular fat and total thigh muscle were the only body-composition measures that predicted gait-speed decline in men and women combined. When modeled together, every 5.75-cm2 increase in thigh intermuscular fat was associated with a 0.01 ± 0.00-m/s decrease in gait speed, whereas every 16.92-cm2 decrease in thigh muscle was associated with a 0.01 ± 0.00-m/s decrease in gait speed.Conclusions: High and increasing thigh intermuscular fat are important predictors of gait-speed decline, implying that fat infiltration into muscle contributes to a loss of mobility with age. Conversely, a decreasing thigh muscle area is also predictive of a decline in gait speed.