Real-world walking cadence in people with COPD

INTRODUCTION: The clinical validity of real-world walking cadence in people with COPD is unsettled. Our objective was to assess the levels, variability and association with clinically relevant COPD characteristics and outcomes of real-world walking cadence. METHODS: We assessed walking cadence (steps per minute during walking bouts longer than 10 s) from 7 days' accelerometer data in 593 individuals with COPD from five European countries, and clinical and functional characteristics from validated questionnaires and standardised tests. Severe exacerbations during a 12-month follow-up were recorded from patient reports and medical registries. RESULTS: Participants were mostly male (80%) and had mean±sd age of 68±8 years, post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)) of 57±19% predicted and walked 6880±3926 steps·day(-1). Mean walking cadence was 88±9 steps·min(-1), followed a normal distribution and was highly stable within-person (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.92, 95% CI 0.90-0.93). After adjusting for age, sex, height and number of walking bouts in fractional polynomial or linear regressions, walking cadence was positively associated with FEV(1,) 6-min walk distance, physical activity (steps·day(-1), time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, vector magnitude units, walking time, intensity during locomotion), physical activity experience and health-related quality of life and negatively associated with breathlessness and depression (all p<0.05). These associations remained after further adjustment for daily steps. In negative binomial regression adjusted for multiple confounders, walking cadence related to lower number of severe exacerbations during follow-up (incidence rate ratio 0.94 per step·min(-1), 95% CI 0.91-0.99, p=0.009). CONCLUSIONS: Higher real-world walking cadence is associated with better COPD status and lower severe exacerbations risk, which makes it attractive as a future prognostic marker and clinical outcome.

• Delgado-Ortiz, L.
• Ranciati, S.
• Arbillaga-Etxarri, A.
• Balcells, E.
• Buekers, J.
• Demeyer, H.
• Frei, A.
• Gimeno-Santos, E.
• Hopkinson, N. S.
• de Jong, C.
• Karlsson, N.
• Louvaris, Z.
• Palmerini, L.
• Polkey, M. I.
• Puhan, M. A.
• Rabinovich, R. A.
• Rodríguez Chiaradia, D. A.
• Rodriguez-Roisin, R.
• Toran-Montserrat, P.
• Vogiatzis, I.
• Watz, H.
• Troosters, T.
• Garcia-Aymerich, J.