Publication

Patterns of daily-life walking in older adults – the HUNT4 Trondheim 70+ Observational Study

Anisoara Ionescu
2026

Abstract

Background Walking ability is crucial for independence, disease prevention, and healthy aging in older adults. Daily-life walking behavior is dominated by short walking bouts (WBs), yet little is known about their organizational pattern. This study aimed to describe patterns of daily-life walking in older adults in relation to sex and level of physical function, taking into account short interruptions between WBs in close temporal proximity. Methods Accelerometer data (Axivity AX3) from 1266 older adults ( mean age 77.4, SD 6.1 years; age range 70–105 years; 54.6% women) were used to identify WBs and inter-bouts (IBs) of daily life walking. WBs separated by IBs lasting < 60 seconds were clustered together, and older adults’ walking behavior was described across levels of physical function as assessed by SPPB (Kruskal-Wallis tests) for both women and men (Mann-Whitney U). In addition, Spearman correlations between walking metrics and SPPB score were performed and compared using Steiger’s test for dependent correlations. Results The majority of IBs lasted < 60 seconds, indicating that most interruptions in walking activities are very brief. Temporal clustering of WBs showed that those with lower SPPB-scores had fewer clusters and shorter walking period duration compared to those with higher SPPB-scores. Clustered WBs were more strongly correlated to SPPB scores than individual WBs. Conclusions Our results show that most time periods between WBs are very short, indicating brief interruptions rather than actual termination of walking activity. In addition, clustering WBs into walking periods yields measures that are more closely related to physical function than individual WBs alone. Clustering WBs occurring close in time provides additional insights into daily-life patterns of walking behavior in both women and men and represents a relevant extension of existing clinical and patient-reported measures that may support early identification of functional decline or disease progression. Trial registration: N/A

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/b200b0ab-ca08-4312-91ad-d4b05e63555d

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Anisoara Ionescu
2026

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/b200b0ab-ca08-4312-91ad-d4b05e63555d

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