Correlation study between gait and balance assessment parameters in institutionalized elderly women

Abstract

Objective: To correlate gait assessment parameters in institutionalized elderly women. Methods: A total of 36 elderly women (71.92 ± 8.48 years) were evaluated through the application of the one-minute walk test for the assessment of gait cadence, the gait speed test and the Performance-Oriented Evaluation of Gait and Balance (POMA). Descriptive and inferential statistics were gathered with Pearson’s correlation (r) test. A significance level of 5% was adopted. Results: There was a positive and significant correlation between cadence and gait velocity (r = 0.649, p <0.001), and between balance and speed (r = 0.641, p <0.001) and gait cadence (r = 0.398, p = 0.016). Conclusion: There is a correlation between the analyzed parameters, being higher between gait speed and performance in gait and balance. Further investigations bearing on the relation between muscular fitness components and gait and balance assessment parameters are recommended.