Citation

Anson E, Bigelow RT, Swenor B, Deshpande N, Studenski S, Jeka JJ, Agrawal Y. Front. Aging Neurosci. 2017; 9: e202.

Affiliation

Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineBaltimore, MD, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fnagi.2017.00202

PMID

28676758

PMCID

PMC5476729

Abstract

Postural sway increases with age and peripheral sensory disease. Whether, peripheral sensory function is related to postural sway independent of age in healthy adults is unclear. Here, we investigated the relationship between tests of visual function (VISFIELD), vestibular function (CANAL or OTOLITH), proprioceptive function (PROP), and age, with center of mass sway area (COM) measured with eyes open then closed on firm and then a foam surface. A cross-sectional sample of 366 community dwelling healthy adults from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging was tested. Multiple linear regressions examined the association between COM and VISFIELD, PROP, CANAL, and OTOLITH separately and in multi-sensory models controlling for age and gender. PROP dominated sensory prediction of sway across most balance conditions (β's = 0.09-0.19, p's < 0.001), except on foam eyes closed where CANAL function loss was the only significant sensory predictor of sway (β = 2.12, p < 0.016). Age was not a consistent predictor of sway. This suggests loss of peripheral sensory function explains much of the age-associated increase in sway.

Language: en

Keywords

aging; postural sway; proprioception; vestibular; vision