Fast aging linked to slow walking speed in middle age, NZ study finds

Gait analysis has previously identified various neurological and physiological health issues in older adults, such as dementia and glaucoma, but it has been recently suggested to be an effective measure of biological aging. According to New Zealand’s Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit (DMHDRU), which runs the influential Dunedin Study, gait speed i.e. the pace at which a person walks, could be indicative of accelerated aging in 40-something adults.

A review of 904 subjects, aged 45, revealed a distinct correlation between slower gait speed and physical and biological indicators of accelerated aging. This was noted in the slowest quintile of walkers, who displayed structural brain changes, such as lower total brain volume and lower mean cortical thickness similar to people of advanced years. Furthermore, there was a correlation between neurocognitive testing in childhood and gait speed at 45, and was strong enough to accurately predict a person’s walking speed in later years.

However,while the Dunedin study did not have brain imaging or gait speed data from the subjects from adolescence to early adulthood and is yet unclear about the causal mechanism linking childhood neurocognitive functioning and midlife gait speed, the findings reflect the potential use of gait speed as biomarker for aging.

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