2003 Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages 27-30
With respect to prevention of bone fractures, we have been interested in the relationship between walking ability and bone mineral density (BMD) in the femoral neck. Since a decrease in walking ability is closely associated with falls as reported by Nevitt, we examined the relationship between the walking rate and BMD in the femoral neck.
Subjects were 178 of the 343 elderly people who voluntarily participated in a series of meetings, “Program for prevention of falls,” which were held at our hospital. Mean age was 69±5.0 years; height, 151.4±11.5 cm; weight, 49.6±5.9 kg and body mass index, 21.4±2.3. Based on the report of Kamioka that a median of 5.7 sec was needed for elderly people to walk 10m as fast as possible, we divided the subjects into two groups according to information collected at the first meeting of the “Program”. The F group included subjects who walked 10m within 5.7sec and the S group was comprised of those who needed more than 5.7sec to walk 10m. In addition, the BMD in the femoral neck was measured with QDR2000 (Hologic, Inc.) at the same meeting.
The BMD is routinely measured in ordinary health examinations at this hospital. The mean BMD value was 0.567±0.100 (YAM ratio, 74.7) in the S group, whereas it was 0.595±0.073 (YAM ratio, 77.9) in the F group. Differences in BMD and YAM were significant between the two groups (p<0.05). Dargent-Molina et al. predicted a risk of bone fracture on the basis of BMD in the femoral neck and walking velocity. They reported that because both walking velocity and BMD were low in persons with a prior history of fractures of the femoral neck, the risk of bone fracture was very high in elderly persons who walked slowly. Because of the finding that competence in walking is important to avoid falling, it would seem beneficial to provide the elderly with instructions on walking in the “Program” and to encourage them to form or maintain good walking habits.
