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Association between gait speed and the SHARE Frailty Instrument in a Falls and Syncope Clinic

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Key Summary Points

AbstractSection Aim

To evaluate the association between SHARE-FI and gait speed in a Falls’ and Syncope Unit.

AbstractSection Findings

There was a significant negative correlation between frailty and gait speed. After controlling for age, sex, body mass index, co-morbidities and polypharmacy, gait speed was an independent predictor of frailty.

AbstractSection Message

SHARE-FI significantly capture gait speed in patients attending a Falls’ and Syncope Unit.

Abstract

Purpose

Identifying physical frailty is useful in the context of falls and syncope assessment. The phenotype-based SHARE Frailty Instrument for Primary Care (SHARE-FI) does not measure gait speed. We evaluated the association between SHARE-FI and gait speed in a Falls’ and Syncope Unit (FASU).

Methods

We recruited a pilot sample of patients aged 50 and over attending FASU between November 2019 and March 2020. The association between gait speed and SHARE-FI was assessed with the Spearman’s co-efficient (rs). Logistic regression was conducted to investigate the association controlling for age, sex, body mass index, comorbidities and polypharmacy.

Results

104 participants were included (34 frail) median (IQR) age 74 (68–79) years. 68 were female. There was a significant negative correlation between frailty and gait speed (rs − 0.54, P < 0.001). In the multivariable model, gait speed remained independently associated with frailty (OR 0.09, 95% CI 0.02–0.52, P = 0.007).

Conclusions

SHARE-FI significantly captured gait speed in this clinical sample, adding to its validity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing, St James’s Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

    Patrick J. O’Donoghue, Paul Claffey, Ciara Rice, Lisa Byrne, Conal Cunningham, Rose Anne Kenny & Roman Romero-Ortuno

  2. Department of Medical Gerontology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Patrick J. O’Donoghue, Paul Claffey, Conal Cunningham, Rose Anne Kenny & Roman Romero-Ortuno

Authors
  1. Patrick J. O’Donoghue
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  2. Paul Claffey
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  3. Ciara Rice
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  4. Lisa Byrne
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  5. Conal Cunningham
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  6. Rose Anne Kenny
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  7. Roman Romero-Ortuno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick J. O’Donoghue.

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Conflict of interest

On behalf of all the authors, the corresponding author has no conflict of interest to declare.

Ethical approval

This study was granted ethical approval by the Tallaght University Hospital (TUH)/St James’s Hospital (SJH) Joint Research Ethics Committee (REC Reference: 2018-08 Chairman's Action).

Informed consent

All participants provided written informed consent.

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O’Donoghue, P.J., Claffey, P., Rice, C. et al. Association between gait speed and the SHARE Frailty Instrument in a Falls and Syncope Clinic. Eur Geriatr Med 12, 1101–1105 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-021-00509-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-021-00509-0

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