2020 Volume 1 Pages 17-21
In this study, we investigated the factors affecting the acquisition of practical walking speed in elderly hospitalized patients over 80 years old. The subjects were 62 hospitalized patients over 80 years old．We evaluated isometric knee extension strength, the weight-bearing ratio（WBR）and 10m maximum walking speed． Based on the results of walking speed, those who were able to walk at the speed required for crossing the road（≧1.0 m/s）were classified into the fast group（≧1.0m/s）or the slow group（＜1.0m/s）．The muscle strength, WBR, and age showed significant differences between the fast group and the slow group. Among them, the muscle strength and WBR were extracted by logistic regression analysis．The area under the curve of the muscle strength was 0.91, and the sensitivity and specificity were 79% and 91% when 0.41 kgf/kg was the cut-off value．The area under the curve of the WBR was 0.95, and the sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 93% when 84.4% was the cut-off value. From the results of this study, the WBR and the muscle strength affected the maintenance of practical walking speed in elderly hospitalized patients over 80 years old. The WBR was more accurate than the muscle strength. This suggests that the ability to move the center of gravity to the left and right is more important than the muscle strength of the lower limbs in order to obtain practical walking speed in elderly hospitalized patients over 80 years old.
