Relationship Between Dual-Task Gait Speed and Walking Activity Poststroke. Issue 5 (May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Feld, Jody A.; Zukowski, Lisa A.; Howard, Annie G.; Giuliani, Carol A.; Altmann, Lori J.P.; Najafi, Bijan; Plummer, Prudence
• Is Part Of: Stroke. Volume 49:Issue 5(2018)
• Publication Date: 2018-05
• Subjects: cognition -- exercise -- gait -- humans -- stroke; Cerebrovascular disease -- Periodicals; Cerebral circulation -- Periodicals; 616.81
• DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.019694
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0039-2499

Abstract

Abstract : Background and Purpose—: Gait speed does not adequately predict whether stroke survivors will be active in the community. This may be because traditional single-task gait speed does not sufficiently reproduce the demands of walking in the real world. This study assessed whether dual-task gait speed accounts for variance in daily ambulatory activity above what can be predicted with habitual (single task) gait speed in community-dwelling stroke survivors. Methods—: Twenty-eight community-dwelling individuals, 58.2 years of age (SD=16.6), 8.9 months poststroke (interquartile range, 3.7–19.4), completed a gait and cognitive task in single- and dual-task conditions. Daily ambulatory activity was captured using a physical activity monitor. A regression analysis examined R 2 changes with single- and dual-task gait speed. Results—: Single-task gait speed explained 15.3% of the variance in daily ambulatory activity ( P =0.04). Adding dual-task gait speed to the regression model increased the variance explained by an additional 20.6% ( P =0.04). Conclusions—: Gait speed assessed under attention-demanding conditions may improve explanation of variance in daily ambulatory activity after stroke.