How do people with COPD walk? A European study on digitally measured real-world gait

The amount of walking that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) do is reduced. However, data on their manner of walking (i.e., gait) is still lacking. We characterised real-world gait in COPD by assessing levels and distributions of gait parameters, and comparing them across COPD severity, and with healthy peers.

549 people with COPD from seven European sites and 19 healthy older adults wore single wearable devices (either Axivity AX6 or Dynaport MM+) continuously for one week, from which we identified walking bouts (WBs), calculated 15 digital mobility outcomes (DMOs) aggregated at weekly level, and compared them across COPD severity levels and with healthy peers.

Participants with COPD were 37% female, and had mean(sd) age 68(8)years and post-bronchodilator FEV1 54(20)% predicted. All gait DMOs were normally distributed and exhibited variability between participants (e.g., mean walking speed of 0.83(0.12)m·s−1, ranging from 0.48 to 1.20 m·s−1). Walking speed and cadence DMOs were lower with increasing disease severity (e.g., mean walking speed of 0.88(0.11), 0.85(0.12), 0.80(0.12), and 0.78(0.14) m·s−1 in GOLD 1–4, p<0.001; mean cadence 93(6), 91(6), and 89(7) steps/min in GOLD A, B and E, p=0.013). Stride length and duration varied across COPD severity levels. Walking speed and cadence bout-to-bout variability only varied across dyspnoea severity levels. In a secondary analysis, we compared DMO data from people with COPD to a convenience sample of 19 healthy older adults (47% women, mean age 71(6) years) and found that walking speed and cadence varied between COPD and healthy adults (e.g., mean walking speed 0.83(0.12) versus 0.90(0.12) m·s−1, p=0.041).

In people with COPD, gait DMOs are normally distributed and worsen as disease advances. Moreover, walking speed and cadence DMOs are significantly altered when compared to healthy peers. Further research should elucidate which DMOs can be improved with treatments to enhance mobility and reduce adverse events.