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Evaluation of Movement Speed and Reaction Time as Predictors of All-Cause Mortality in Men

¹ National Institute on Aging, Clinical Research Branch, Harbor Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland.
² Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Graduate School of Nursing, Bethesda, Maryland.

Address correspondence to E. Jeffrey Metter, MD, National Institute on Aging, 3001 South Hanover Street, Baltimore, MD 21225. E-mail: MetterJ{at}grc.nia.nih.gov

Muscle power is associated with mortality independent of strength, suggesting that movement speed and coordination convey health-related information. We hypothesized that movement speed is a marker of longevity. Our participants included 1196 men who performed a tapping and/or auditory simple (respond to a sound) and disjunctive (respond to a higher pitched sound) reaction-time tasks while participating in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Mortality was assessed over 40 years. Tapping time was associated with mortality (relative risk [RR] = 1.34 per minute, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05–1.70) adjusted for age, and persisted with adjustments for arm strength and power. Simple (RR = 1.17 per 100 ms, 95% CI, 1.03–1.32) and disjunctive (RR = 1.14 per 100 ms, 95% CI, 1.03–1.27) reaction times but not their difference (RR = 1.04 per 100 ms, 95% CI, 0.92–1.19) were associated with mortality after adjustments for age, neurological/psychiatric and neck/arm pain histories. Age-associated impairments in motor control systems but not the decision to move affects longevity.