The 6th Vital Sign?

There just might be a race to define the 6th vital sign.  Field of specialty, for the moment, seems to be a variable that will create difficulty in defining the 6th vital sign.  What will be the 6th vital sign?

Unfortunately, the 6th vital sign I am going to mention doesn't appear in Wikipedia.  Last year at the Annual APTA meeting, Pamela Duncan, PT suggested walking speed be the 6th vital sign.  Recently a White Paper written by Stacy Fritz, PT and Michelle Lusardi, PT was published to raise the awareness and allow for discussion of self-selected walking speed to be the 6th vital sign.  The work that has been done on walking speed is quite interesting and vast: data suggests whether a person is dependent or independent, if the person has a likelihood of being hospitalized, if the person should be discharged to a skilled nursing facility or home, whether the person has a potential to fall or not to fall, and defining categories of how well the person is able to walk.

Body temperature... heart rate... blood pressure... respiratory rate... pain... and... ??  Are we ready for the 6th?  Do you think walking speed should be a measured vital sign?  Is the data strong enough to identify walking speed as the 6th vital sign?  Will this vital sign just be something to document OR can we alter this vital sign with our services and alter someone's life?

photo by Michael Brooking Photography via Flickr

~Selena