Descripción

Gait speed seems to be the easiest way to evaluate the functional performance of the elderly people and to detect early stages of disability. The objective of this research was to determine the average and the cutoff of the walking speed of adults over 60 years of Pasto, Nariño, Colombia. The study was crosssectional, descriptive and exploratory; 426 elderly residents in the community were evaluated. Gait speed was valued at 4 meters, following the protocol of the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). The average age of the population was 72 years (SD = 7.3); the average speed was 0.71 m/s and 0.85 m/s in women and men respectively; the general population had an average walking speed of 0.75 m/s. In respect of the cut point, to be considered a positive criterion of fragility, values below the 20th percentile adjusted for gender and height were taken into account, with the following results: 1 m/m and 1.15 s/s in women and men respectively with a cut of 1 m/s for the general population. In conclusion, older adults evaluated have an average speed below the national average (0.95 m/s).