Functional studies in 79-year-olds. III. Walking performance and climbing capacity.

Walking speed and the ability to climbing steps were studied in a subsample of 112 women and 93 men of the longitudinal population study "70-year-old people in Göteborg", in order to evaluate the functional capacity of the lower extremities. No women or men of this age achieved, when walking comfortably, a speed of maximum 1.4 m/s which is recommended in Sweden as a norm for pedestrians at signalized intersections. At their maximum walking speed only 32% of the women and 72% of the men reached 1.4 m/s. In comfortable walking women on an average used 78% and men 70% of their maximal walking speed. All subjects could climb up and down a 20 cm step when using a handrail. Less than half of the women but almost all the men were able to climb up and down a 50 cm high step using a handrail. Subjects having handicap transport service choose significantly lower walking speed than the rest of the subjects. Correlations were found between step test results and walking speed. It is concluded that both traffic vehicles and the rythm at signalized intersections are not in accordance with the functional capacity of older persons.