- Design
- Feasibility study with repeat measurement at 6 months
- Population
- 30 mobile adults attending a UK general practice diabetes clinic
- Primary outcome
- Feasibility and agreement of three walking-speed methods
- Effect
- Timed walk 1.12 m/s vs accelerometer 1.15 m/s vs treadmill 1.01 m/s; recruitment 91%
In one UK general practice, 30 of 33 consecutive mobile patients at the diabetes clinic agreed to walk 28 metres in the corridor at their usual pace while wearing an accelerometer, then walked three minutes on a treadmill. Mean age was 60 and mean BMI 31. Most repeated the tests six months later.
The timed walk gave an average speed of about 1.1 m/s, similar to the accelerometer and, on average, to the treadmill. Repeat measurements agreed well. Patients and staff found all methods acceptable, but the treadmill took longest.
Slow walking speed has been linked to cardiovascular risk and frailty in diabetes. This study does not show that measuring it changes outcomes, only that a corridor test fits into a routine clinic.
- Consider a timed corridor walk as a quick measure of function in diabetes review.
- Use the same distance and instructions each time so results can be compared.
- Treat a slow walking speed as a prompt to ask about falls, frailty and activity.
Why it matters
It turns a research measure of frailty into something a practice nurse can do in two minutes.
Don't overread it
A 30-patient feasibility study does not show that measuring walking speed improves care.
The statistics, in plain English
Bland-Altman analysis checks whether two measurements agree; here the averages matched but the spread between corridor and treadmill results was wide, so individual readings from the two methods are not interchangeable.
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