{"doi":"10.1093/gerona/glab036","title":"Ratings of Perceived Exertion During Walking: Predicting Major Mobility Disability and Effect of Structured Physical Activity in Mobility-Limited Older Adults","abstract":"BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the association between ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) of walking and major mobility disability (MMD), as well as their transitions in response to a physical activity (PA) compared to a health education (HE) program. METHODS: Older adults (n = 1633) who were at risk for mobility impairment were randomized to structured PA or HE programs. During a 400 m walk, participants rated exertion as \"light\" or \"hard.\" An MMD event was defined as the inability to walk 400 m. MMD events and RPE values were assessed every 6 months for an average of 2.6 years. RESULTS: Participants rating their exertion as \"hard\" had a nearly threefold higher risk of MMD compared with those rating their exertion as \"light\" (HR: 2.61, 95% CI: 2.19-3.11). The association was held after adjusting for disease conditions, depression, cognitive function, and walking speed (HR: 2.24, 95% CI: 1.87-2.69). The PA group was 25% more likely to transition from \"light\" to \"hard\" RPE than the HE group (HR: 1.25, 95% CI: 1.05-1.49). Additionally, the PA group was 27% (HR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.55 - 0.97) less likely to transition from a \"hard\" RPE to inability to walk 400 m and was more likely to recover their ability to walk 400 m by transitioning to a \"hard\" RPE (HR: 2.10, 95% CI: 1.39-3.17) than the HE group. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults rating \"hard\" effort during a standardized walk test were at increased risk of subsequent MMD. A structured PA program enabled walking recovery, but was more likely to increase transition from \"light\" to \"hard\" effort, which may reflect the greater capacity to perform the test.","journal":"The Journals of Gerontology Series A","year":2021,"id":204836,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9087,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":329857,"name":"Haiying Chen","orcid":"0000-0002-9712-5963","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":242022,"name":"Thomas M. Gill","orcid":"0000-0002-6450-0368","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":130042,"name":"Nancy W. Glynn","orcid":"0000-0003-2265-0162","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":787687,"name":"Rebecca Henderson","orcid":"0000-0003-1176-8544","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":823,"name":"­Abby C. King","orcid":"0000-0002-7949-8811","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":238660,"name":"Marco Pahor","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":400011,"name":"Peihua Qiu","orcid":"0000-0003-4439-9466","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":788253,"name":"Alvito Rego","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":434462,"name":"Kieran F. Reid","orcid":"0000-0001-9652-5319","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":274799,"name":"Catrine Tudor‐Locke","orcid":"0000-0003-4342-5909","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":787688,"name":"Vincenzo Valiani","orcid":"0000-0003-1841-3519","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":787689,"name":"Lu You","orcid":"0000-0002-9400-2060","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":109416,"name":"Todd M. Manini","orcid":"0000-0002-5970-4462","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":492372,"name":"Erta Cenko","orcid":"0000-0002-7402-6495","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":39,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:51:30.197308Z","pmid":"33585918","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}