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Background. The ability to walk for short and prolonged periods of time is often measured with separate walking tests. It is unclear whether decline in the 2-minute walk coincides with decline in a shorter 20-m walk among older adults. Objective. The aim of this study was to describe patterns of change in the 20-m walk and 2-minute walk over 8 years among a large cohort of older adults. Should change be similar between tests of walking ability, separate retesting of prolonged walking may need to be reconsidered. Design. A longitudinal, observational cohort study was conducted. Methods. Data were from 1,893 older adults who were well-functioning (≥70 years of age). The 20-m walk and 2-minute walk were repeatedly measured over 8 years to measure change during short and prolonged periods of walking, respectively. Change was examined using a dual group-based trajectory model (dual model), and agreement between walking trajectories was quantified with a weighted kappa statistic. Results. Three trajectory groups for the 20-m walk and 2-minute walk were identified. More than 86% of the participants were in similar trajectory groups for both tests from the dual model. There was high chance-corrected agreement (kappa =.84; 95% confidence interval=.82, .86) between the 20-m walk and 2-minute walk trajectory groups. Limitations. One-third of the original Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) study cohort was excluded from analysis due to missing clinic visits, followed by being excluded for health reasons for performing the 2-minute walk, limiting generalizability to healthy older adults. Conclusions. Patterns of change in the 2-minute walk are similar to those in the 20-m walk. Thus, separate retesting of the 2-minute walk may need to be reconsidered to gauge change in prolonged walking. INSET: The Bottom Line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practice guidelines recommend addressing obesity for people with knee OA, however, the association of obesity with walking independent of pain is not known. We investigated this association within the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study, a cohort of older adults who have or are at high risk of knee OA. Subjects wore a Step Watch to record steps taken over 7 days. We measured knee pain from a visual analogue scale and obesity by BMI. We examined the association of obesity with walking using linear regression adjusting for pain and covariates. Of 1788 subjects, the mean steps/day taken was 8872.9 ± 3543.4. Subjects with a BMI ⩾35 took 3355 fewer steps per day independent of knee pain compared with those with a BMI ⩽25 (95% CI -3899, -2811). BMI accounted for 9.7% of the variability of walking while knee pain accounted for 2.9%. BMI was associated with walking independent of knee pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor intake of vitamin K is common. Insufficient vitamin K can result in abnormal cartilage and bone mineralization. Furthermore, osteophyte growth, seen in osteoarthritis (OA), may be a vitamin K–dependent process. We undertook this study to determine whether vitamin K deficiency is associated with radiographic features of OA.We conducted an analysis among 672 participants (mean age 65.6 years, 358 women) in the Framingham Offspring Study, a population‐based prospective observational cohort. Levels of plasma phylloquinone (the primary form of vitamin K) had previously been measured in these participants, for whom we also had bilateral hand and knee radiographs. The main outcomes were 1) prevalence ratios (PRs) of OA, osteophytes, and joint space narrowing (JSN) per quartile of plasma phylloquinone level for each joint, adjusting for correlated joints using generalized estimating equations, and 2) adjusted mean number of joints with each feature per quartile of plasma phylloquinone level. Analyses were conducted in hands and knees separately and adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, total energy intake, plasma vitamin D, and femoral neck bone mineral density.The PRs for OA, osteophytes, and JSN and adjusted mean number of joints with all 3 features in the hand decreased significantly with increasing plasma phylloquinone levels (P ≤ 0.03 for all). For example, as plasma phylloquinone levels rose, the PR for hand OA decreased from 1.0 to 0.7 (P = 0.005). For the knee, only the PR for osteophytes and the adjusted mean number of knee joints with osteophytes decreased significantly with increasing plasma phylloquinone levels (PR decreased from 1.0 to 0.6, P = 0.01).These observational data support the hypothesis of an association between low plasma levels of vitamin K and increased prevalence of OA manifestations in the hand and knee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]