Signs of Aging Detected by a Simple Walking Test at Age 45

A study published in JAMA Network Open demonstrated that the speed at which people older than 45 walk could indicate their brain and body age, and slow-walking persons were more likely to have "accelerated aging" compared to faster walkers, reports News-Medical . Duke University investigators learned that on a 19-point scale, slow walkers were more likely to have worse teeth, more compromised immune systems, and worse lung functions than fast walkers. Slow walkers also were in poorer physical condition. Slow walkers not only had less brain volume, mean cortex thickness, and brain surface area, but also more "hyperintensities" in their brains' white matter. "The thing that's really striking is that this is in 45-year-old people, not the senior subjects who are usually assessed with such measures," observed Duke's Line J.H. Rasmussen. Neurocognitive tests on three-year-olds to evaluate IQ scores, language understanding, motor skills, and emotional control and frustration tolerance were found to predict their walking age at 45 years. "Doctors know that slow walkers in their seventies and eighties tend to die sooner than fast walkers their same age," said Duke Professor Terrie E. Moffitt. "But this study covered the period from the preschool years to midlife, and found that a slow walk is a problem sign decades before old age."