The primary hospitals should take gait speed as a routine test for elderly patients

Geriatric syndromes are posing an increasing health threat in an aging population. The reliable indicator of geriatric syndromes is of great clinical value for early diagnosis and intervention. To investigate the potential application of slow gait speed as a signal for identifying common geriatric syndromes in the elderly. A total number of 985 elderly outpatients (457 men and 528 women) were recruited in the study. The subjects were classified into two groups according to the gait speed cut-off (1.0 m/s), with the individuals being assigned as normal speed group (NSG) when the gait speed ≥ 1.0 m/s and the slow speed group (SSG) was defined as the gait speed < 1.0 m/s. CGA management system Simply Edition (CGA-SE) software was implemented to collect data, compare the demographic variations and assess the prevalence of functional decline in the two groups. Compared to the NSG, SSG subjects were significantly older, shorter in height, lighter in weight and consumed more medicine. SSG subjects also showed a higher score in Edmonton symptom assessment, Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), and had a lower score in Barthel index of Activities of Daily Living (BADL) assessment and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). There was a significantly higher prevalence of frailty, disability, depression, and dementia in SSG when compared to NSG. In addition, gait speed was an independent predictive factor associated with a higher risk of frailty, disability, dementia, and swallowing dysfunction. Slow gait speed could be used as an indicator for several common geriatric syndromes in elderly outpatients. We recommended the 6 m walk test as a routine examination for the elderly in the primary hospitals.