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In an analysis that included data from 9 studies, having higher measures of walking speed among older adults was associated with increased length of survival, according to a study in the January 5 issue of JAMA. 刊登在1月5日的美国医学会杂志(JAMA)上的一篇研究报告称，步行速度较快的老人寿命较长。 "Remaining years of life vary widely in older adults, and physicians should consider life expectancy when assessing goals of care and treatment plans. However, life expectancy based on age and sex alone provides limited information because survival is also influenced by health and functional abilities," according to background information in the article. There are currently no well-established approaches to predicting life expectancy that incorporate health and function. Gait speed, or walking speed, has been recommended as a potentially useful clinical indicator of well-being among older adults. 背景资料：老年人的寿命长短差异很大，医生在评估保健及治疗方案的目标时应该将预期寿命纳入考虑范围，但仅建立在年龄与性别基础上的预期寿命并不十分准确，因为健康与身体机能也会影响寿命的长短。但是，目前的预期寿命预测方法全都没有将健康与身体机能涵盖其中。 Stephanie Studenski, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues conducted a study to assess the association of gait speed with survival in older adults and to determine the degree to which gait speed explains variability in survival after accounting for age and sex. The study included a pooled analysis of 9 participating studies (collected between 1986 and 2000), using individual data from 34,485community-dwelling adults age 65 years or older with walking speed data available at the beginning of the study, followed up for 6 to 21 years. Participants had an average age of 73.5 years; 59.6 percent were women; and 79.8 percent were white. Gait speed wascalculated for each participant using distance in meters and time in seconds. All studies used instructions to walk at usual pace and from a standing start. The walk distance varied from 8 feet to 6 meters. The average gait speed of the participants was 0.92 meters (3 feet) per second. | 
