Misu S1,2, Asai T3, Doi T4, Sawa R2, Ueda Y2, Murata S2,5, Saito T2, Sugimoto T2,6,7, Isa T2, Tsuboi Y2,5, Yamada M8, Ono R2
1Konan Women's University, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Kobe, Japan, 2Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Department of Community Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan, 3Kobegakuin University, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe, Japan, 4National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Department of Health and Medical Care Center for Development of Advanced Medicine for Dementia, Section for Health Promotion, Obu, Japan, 5Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Research Fellowship for Young Scientists, Tokyo, Japan, 6National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, The Center for Comprehensive Care and Research on Memory Disorders, Obu, Japan, 7National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Medical Genome Center, Obu, Japan, 8University of Tsukuba, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, Tokyo, Japan
Background: Inertial sensors are considered appropriate for assessment of gait performances in clinical settings, but are not applied widely. From the clinical views, there are several problems: 1) it is unclear which parameters from inertial sensors are clinically valuable; 2) the reference data in healthy older adults is insufficient, and thus obtained data cannot be judged to be good or bad; and 3) no comprehensive method exists despite gait performance should be assessed in the various aspects. To clear these problems, we developed a scoring method for community-dwelling older adults, “Comprehensive-Gait Assessment using InerTial Sensor score (C-GAITS score)”.
Purpose: To examine the validity of the C-GAITS score in community-dwelling older adults.
Methods: Gait performance of 378 community-dwelling older people (mean age: 71.7 ± 4.2 years, 210 women) was assessed by using inertial sensors attached to the heel and lower trunk. They walked along a 15-m long walkway, and accelerations, angular velocity, and walking time in the middle 10 m section of the walkway were measured. From those data, walking speed, mean stride time, coefficient of variation of stride time and swing time, autocorrelation coefficients and harmonic ratio of acceleration in vertical, mediolateral, and anteroposterior directions at the lower trunk were calculated. Scoring was performed based on the quartile by sex (i.e. scored from 0 to 3) in each of those 10 gait parameters. The C-GAITS score were the total of the above scores (i.e. scored from 0 to 30). Lower extremity strength, balance function, fall history in the previous year, and fear of falling were also assessed.
Results: An exploratory factor analysis revealed that the C-GAITS score yielded four distinct, but correlated factors explaining 57.1% of the variance. The score's Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.769. A single linear regression analysis showed the significant relationship between the total C-GAITS score and the walking speed (adjusted R2 = 0.28). Results from bivariate comparisons using unpaired t-tests show the score was significantly related with age (p = 0.002), lower extremity strength (p = 0.007), balance function (p 0.001), fall history (p = 0.04), and fear of falling (p 0.001).
Conclusion(s): The C-GAITS score, derived from acceleration and angular velocity data at the heel and lower trunk taken while walking, had good internal consistency and credible construct validity in community-dwelling older adults.
Implications: The C-GAITS score is the first scoring method to assess gait performance comprehensively using inertial sensors. The score may be useful in clinical settings because of its convenience, ease of use and interpretation, and its capability to capture the functional decline in older adults.
Keywords: Gait, score, inertial sensor
Funding acknowledgements: This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (22700685) from KAKENHI in Japan.
Purpose: To examine the validity of the C-GAITS score in community-dwelling older adults.
Methods: Gait performance of 378 community-dwelling older people (mean age: 71.7 ± 4.2 years, 210 women) was assessed by using inertial sensors attached to the heel and lower trunk. They walked along a 15-m long walkway, and accelerations, angular velocity, and walking time in the middle 10 m section of the walkway were measured. From those data, walking speed, mean stride time, coefficient of variation of stride time and swing time, autocorrelation coefficients and harmonic ratio of acceleration in vertical, mediolateral, and anteroposterior directions at the lower trunk were calculated. Scoring was performed based on the quartile by sex (i.e. scored from 0 to 3) in each of those 10 gait parameters. The C-GAITS score were the total of the above scores (i.e. scored from 0 to 30). Lower extremity strength, balance function, fall history in the previous year, and fear of falling were also assessed.
Results: An exploratory factor analysis revealed that the C-GAITS score yielded four distinct, but correlated factors explaining 57.1% of the variance. The score's Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.769. A single linear regression analysis showed the significant relationship between the total C-GAITS score and the walking speed (adjusted R2 = 0.28). Results from bivariate comparisons using unpaired t-tests show the score was significantly related with age (p = 0.002), lower extremity strength (p = 0.007), balance function (p 0.001), fall history (p = 0.04), and fear of falling (p 0.001).
Conclusion(s): The C-GAITS score, derived from acceleration and angular velocity data at the heel and lower trunk taken while walking, had good internal consistency and credible construct validity in community-dwelling older adults.
Implications: The C-GAITS score is the first scoring method to assess gait performance comprehensively using inertial sensors. The score may be useful in clinical settings because of its convenience, ease of use and interpretation, and its capability to capture the functional decline in older adults.
Keywords: Gait, score, inertial sensor
Funding acknowledgements: This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (22700685) from KAKENHI in Japan.
Topic: Human movement analysis; Outcome measurement; Older people
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Kobe Gakuin University
Ethics committee: The Research Ethics Committee of Kobe Gakuin University
Ethics number: HEB100806-1
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
