NEW research reveals that gait parameters in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) progressively worsen with disease severity and differ significantly from healthy older adults, emphasising the need for gait-targeted interventions in clinical management.
To better understand real-world mobility in COPD, researchers analysed data from 549 individuals with COPD and 19 healthy controls across seven European centres. Participants wore a single wearable device (Axivity AX6 or Dynaport MM+) continuously for one week. Using this data, the team identified walking bouts and computed 15 digital mobility outcomes (DMOs), such as walking speed, cadence, stride length, and duration. These DMOs were then compared across Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stages and against the healthy cohort.
The COPD group (mean age: 68 years, 37% female) showed wide variability in walking speed, with a mean of 0.83 m/s (SD: 0.12, range 0.48–1.20 m/s). Walking speed and cadence decreased with disease severity: mean walking speed declined from 0.88 m/s in GOLD 1 to 0.78 m/s in GOLD 4 (p<0.001), while cadence dropped from 93 steps/min in GOLD A to 89 steps/min in GOLD E (p=0.013). Stride length and stride duration also showed significant variation across GOLD stages. Variability in walking speed and cadence between bouts correlated more closely with dyspnoea severity than GOLD classification. When compared to healthy older adults (mean age: 71 years), people with COPD walked significantly slower (0.83 vs 0.90 m/s, p=0.041) and had lower cadence, highlighting the mobility gap between the two groups.
These findings establish that gait impairments in COPD are measurable, progressive, and distinguishable from age-related decline alone. Incorporating digital mobility outcomes into COPD assessment could support more tailored, mobility-focused interventions.
Reference
Delgado-Ortiz L et al. How do people with COPD walk? A European study on digitally measured real-world gait. Eur Respir J. 2025; DOI:10.1183/13993003.02303-2024.
