Short-Term Change in Gait Speed and Clinical Outcomes in Older Patients With Acute Heart Failure

Background: Evidence for the prognostic value of gait speed is largely based on a single measure at baseline, so we investigated the prognostic significance of change in gait speed in hospitalized older acute heart failure (AHF) patients. Methods and Results: This retrospective study was performed in a cohort of 388 AHF patients >= 60 years old (mean age: 74.8 +/- 7.8 years, 228 men). Routine geriatric assessment included gait speed measurement at baseline and at discharge. The primary outcome of this study was all-cause death. Gait speed increased from 0.74 +/- 0.25 m/s to 0.98 +/- 0.27 m/s after 13.5 +/- 11.0 days. Older age, shorter height and lower hemoglobin level at admission, prior HF admission, and higher baseline gait speed were independently associated with lesser improvement in gait speed. A total of 80 patients died and 137 patients were readmitted for HF over a mean follow-up period of 2.1 +/- 1.9 years. In multivariate analyses, change in gait speed showed inverse associations with all-cause death (hazard ratio [HR] per 0.1 m/s increase: 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73 to 0.95; P=0.006) and with risk of readmission for HF (HR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.83 to 0.99; P=0.036). Conclusions: Short-term improvement in gait speed during hospitalization was associated with reduced risks of death and readmission for HF in older patients with AHF.