Digital Data Reveal Altered Walking Patterns in COPD

TOPLINE:

Real-world gait metrics differed significantly between people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy older adults and worsened progressively with disease severity. People with COPD walked more slowly and had a lower cadence— the number of steps taken per minute — than their healthy peers.

METHODOLOGY:

Walking impairment is common in patients with COPD and linked to adverse outcomes such as mortality and exacerbation. Although reduced walking activity in these patients is well documented, data on gait — the manner of walking — are lacking, particularly in real-world settings.

Researchers evaluated gait parameters in 549 patients with COPD (mean age, 68 years; 37% women) across seven European sites and compared them with those in 19 healthy older peers.

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