Association of Long-Distance Corridor Walk Performance With Mortality, Cardiovascular Disease, Mobility Limitation, and Disability

To determine whether an extended walking test predicts poor outcomes in older adults. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Observational cohort study enrolling 3075 community-dwelling adults aged 70 to 79 years living in Pittsburgh, Pa, or Memphis, Tenn. Of those participating in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study, 1584 (52%) were women and 1281 (42%) were black. Participants enrolled from March 1997 to April 1998. Ability to complete the long-distance corridor walk and total performance time was assessed at the baseline examination. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Total mortality, incident cardiovascular disease, incident mobility limitation, and mobility disability were ascertained after a mean (SD) of 4.9 (0.9) years.

Among patients eligible to exercise, 351 died, 308 had episodes of incident cardiovascular disease, 1116 had occurrences of mobility limitation, and 509 had occurrences of mobility disability. Inability to complete walking 400 m tended to be associated with a higher risk of mortality and incident cardiovascular disease and, after accounting for potential confounders, was associated with incident mobility limitation (212.6 vs 79.1 events/1000 person-years; adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.58-2.18; P362 seconds) had a higher risk of death than those in the best quartile (walk time