Effect of Age and Sex on Gait Characteristics in the Korean Elderly People

Background: Incidence of falling in the older-elderly is higher than that of the younger-elderly. In addition, falls occur more in elderly women than in elderly men. However, it is unclear whether age and sex-specific dif-ferences exist in gait characteristics of the elderly. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate age- and sex-related differences in gait characteristics of the Korean elderly people. Methods: A total of 75 younger-elderly subjects (age of 65-74 yr; 21 men and 54 women) and 59 older-elderly subjects (age of 75-90 yr; 15 men and 44 women) participated in this study in 2014. All participants walked a distance of 8 m across a GaitRite walkway with self-selected speed. The effects of age and sex on spatiotem-poral gait variables in the Korean elderly people were analyzed before and after adjusting height as covariate. Results: The older-elderly group slowly walked with shorter stride length (P<0.05) and step length (P<0.05) compared to the younger-elderly, regardless of their height. There was no significant sex difference after adjust-ing height as covariate, although elderly women walked with shorter stride length (P<0.01) and step length (P<0.01) than elderly men. The elderly women group walked with more variable stride time (P<0.05) and with longer double support (P<0.01). Conclusion: Age-related changes and sex difference among the elderly existed in specific gait variables. Char-acterizing gait patterns of the Korean elderly people considering both age and sex would be beneficial to assess gait of the elderly with risk of falls for fall interventions.