ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2023
The association of gait speed and self-reported difficulty walking with social isolation: A nationally-representative study.
Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Wearable Technologies for Gait Instability Rehabilitation: Mechanisms, Clinical Evidence, and Future Directions.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Understanding temporal changes in intrinsic capacity: analysis of domain-specific intrinsic capacity using SHARE data.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Sensory Impairment and Risk of Elder Mistreatment in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- Shared Experience of Physical Vitality and Social Participation Among Caregiving Dyads: Comparing Dyads With and Without Dementia.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Home-Based Gait Interventions for Adults with Stroke: A Scoping Review.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translation · 2025Review
- Influence of a multicomponent exercise intervention on fear of falling and gait parameters in community-dwelling older adults: a prospective study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- A prediction model for persistent postoperative frailty in older patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery.Medicine · 2025Article
- Social isolation, loneliness and the relationship with serum biomarkers, functional parameters and mortality in older adults.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Article
- Effect of dentition status on perceived mobility limitation among older Brazilian adults: a cohort study.Brazilian oral research · 2025Article
- Systemic immune inflammation index and systemic inflammation response index predict frailty progression in older patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery.Frontiers in surgery · 2025Article
- Sit-to-Stand Power Is a Stronger Predictor of Gait Speed than Knee Extension Strength.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- The association of depressive symptoms with handgrip strength and gait speed in community-dwelling older adults: data from the baseline phase of Birjand Longitudinal Aging Study.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- The Role of Companion Dogs in the VA Maryland Health Care System Whole Health(y) GeroFit Program.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundMobility assessments are commonly used among older adults as risk stratification for falls, preoperative function, frailty, and mortality. We determined if gait speed and self-reported difficulty walking are similarly associated with social isolation and loneliness, which are key markers of social well-being and linked to health outcomes.
methodsWe used 2015-2016 data from the National Social life Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), an in-person nationally-representative survey of 2640 community-dwelling adults ≥65 years old. We measured gait speed (timed 3-m walk: unable to walk, ≥5.7 s, and <5.7 s), and self-reported difficulty walking one block or across the room (unable, "much," "some," or "no" difficulty). Social measures included loneliness (3-item UCLA scale), social isolation (12-item scale), and individual social activities (frequency socializing, religious participation, community participation, and volunteering). We used logistic regression to determine the adjusted probability of each social measure by gait speed and difficulty walking, adjusting for sociodemographic and health characteristics, and tested for interaction terms with age.
resultsParticipants were on average 75 years old (SD = 7.1), 54% female, 9% Black/African American, and 6% Hispanic. Difficulty walking one block was associated with (p < 0.05): social isolation (much difficulty: 26% vs no difficulty: 18%), low socializing (33% vs 19%), low volunteering (67% vs 53%), low community participation (54% vs 43%), low religious participation (51% vs 46%), and loneliness (25% vs 14%). Difficulty walking across the room was similarly strongly associated with social isolation and individual activities. The association between self-reported difficulty walking and social isolation was stronger at older ages (p-value of interaction <0.001).
conclusionsSelf-reported mobility difficulty is a widely used clinical assessment that is strongly associated with loneliness and social isolation, particularly at older ages. Among persons with limited mobility, clinicians should consider a careful social history to identify social needs and interventions addressing mobility to enhance social connections.
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