Altered gait profile in subjects with peripheral arterial disease.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether peripheral arterial disease (PAD) subjects had impaired temporal and spatial gait characteristics compared to non-PAD controls at preferred and rapid self-selected walking paces. A total of 28 PAD subjects with intermittent claudication (age = 71 +/- 1; mean +/- SEM) and 15 non-PAD controls with at least one cardiovascular risk factor but no ambulatory leg pain (age = 71 +/- 1) were recruited. Gait parameters consisting of velocity, cadence, stride length, swing time, stance time, single-support time, double-support time, and base of support were recorded at the preferred and rapid walking paces. At the rapid walking pace, velocity was 22% slower (p < 0.001) in the PAD subjects compared with the non-PAD controls (99.9 +/- 3.3 vs. 117.5 +/- 5.3 cm/s) due to an 8% (p = 0.019) slower cadence (99.9 +/- 1.7 vs. 103.3 +/- 2.4 steps/min) and a 14% (p < 0.001) shorter stride length (119.8 +/- 2.9 vs. 135.8 +/- 4.2 cm/stride). The PAD subjects spent 5% less of the gait cycle in the swing phase (p = 0.006) and 3% more in stance (p = 0.006) than their non-PAD counterparts. During the stance phase, the PAD subjects spent 5% less of the gait cycle in single-stance (p=0.004) and 16% more in double-stance (p = 0.007). Similar results were obtained at the preferred walking pace. In conclusion, compared with the controls, PAD subjects adopted an ambulatory pattern that favored greater gait stability at the expense of greater walking speed at either their preferred or rapid self-selected paces.