Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Walk with Altered Step Time and Step Width Variability as Compared with Healthy Control Subjects.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Compared with control subjects, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have an increased incidence of falls and demonstrate balance deficits and alterations in mediolateral trunk acceleration while walking. Measures of gait variability have been implicated as indicators of fall risk, fear of falling, and future falls.

Objectives

To investigate whether alterations in gait variability are found in patients with COPD as compared with healthy control subjects.

Methods

Twenty patients with COPD (16 males; mean age, 63.6 ± 9.7 yr; FEV₁/FVC, 0.52 ± 0.12) and 20 control subjects (9 males; mean age, 62.5 ± 8.2 yr) walked for 3 minutes on a treadmill while their gait was recorded. The amount (SD and coefficient of variation) and structur

SUBMITTER: Yentes JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5566305 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature