(07-03-13) Associations between body composition and gait-speed decline: results from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study

1,2,3,4
1. Kristen M Beavers,
2. Daniel P Beavers,
3. Denise K Houston,
4. Tamara B Harris,
5. Trisha F Hue,
6. Annemarie Koster,
7. Anne B Newman,
8. Eleanor M Simonsick,
9. Stephanie A Studenski,
10. Barbara J Nicklas, and
11. Stephen B Kritchevsky
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Author Affiliations
1. 1From the Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (KMB, DKH, SBK, and BJN) and the Department of Biostatistical Sciences (DPB), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC; the Departments of Epidemiology (ABN) and Medicine (SAS), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; the Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry (TBH) and the Clinical Research Branch (EMS), National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD; the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (TFH); and the Department of Social Medicine, School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands (AK).
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Author Notes
? �2 Funding sources had no role in the design and conduct of the study; the,collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; or the preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript.
? ↵3 Supported by the National Institute on Aging (contracts N01-AG-6-2101, N01-AG-6-2103, and N01-AG-6-2106 and grant R01-AG028050), the National Institute on Nursing Research (grant R01-NR012459), the Wake Forest University Claude D Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (P30-AG21332), and an individual postdoctoral fellowship (F32-AG039186; to KMB) and supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute on Aging.
? ↵4 Address correspondence to KM Beavers, Sticht Center on Aging, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157. E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract
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.

Source: Am J Clin Nutr March 2013 vol. 97 no. 3 552-560

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