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Resilience & Frailty
Walking Towards Wellness
Overview: This review will evaluate the effects of different exercise types and characteristics on walking speed in healthy older adults to support proactive strategies that help maintain mobility, reduce fall risk, and promote independence in aging populations who stand to benefit most from early, targeted intervention.
| Study Type: |
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials |
| Eligibility | Studies were selected for inclusion based on the following criteria: 1) must be randomized controlled trials; 2) involve older adults 60+ years old; 3) must not recruit and specifically study older adults with chronic conditions (e.g. Parkinson’s disease, neurological diseases, cognitive impairment, osteoporosis, frailty); 4) involve any type of pre-planned, clearly disclosed exercise interventions compared with usual activity or a control group (e.g. general health education, general stretching, or social visits); 5) report on pre- and post-intervention gait speed outcomes in meters/second or seconds. |
| Objectives: |
The main purpose of this study was to assess the effects of different types of exercise (e.g. resistance training, aerobic training, balance training, or multi-component programs) compared to no exercise on usual, fast, dual-task gait speed. Additionally, we want to assess whether the effects of exercise on gait speed vary by the intervention’s FITT characteristics: frequency (number of times per week), duration (length of overall program), intensity (how challenging is the program), or mode of delivery (e.g., group vs. individual, virtual vs. in-person). |
| Methods: | Relevant randomized controlled trials, in any language between January 2014 to March 2025, will be identified by a systematic search of databases including PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Cochrane CENTRAL. Screening, data extraction, and bias assessment (Cochrane Risk of Bias tool) will be performed in duplicate on eligible studies. The review interventions will include various exercise interventions (e.g., aerobic, resistance, strength, multimodal exercise). Studies combining exercise interventions with additional elements (e.g., diet supplementation, psychosocial or cognition training, technological components) will be included. The main outcomes of this review are the change in usual, fast, and dual-task gait speed (m/s) from baseline measured through validated walking tests. Meta-analyses will estimate the effects for each type of exercise intervention, with certainty of evidence assessed using the GRADE approach. Subgroup analyses will explore differences by FITT characteristics, disease condition, and patients’ residence. |
