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Journal Article

Citation

Cullen S, Borrie MJ, Carroll S, Sarquis-Adamson Y, Pieruccini-Faria F, McKay S, Montero-Odasso M. J. Alzheimers Dis. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Parkwood Institute, London, ON, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, IOS Press)

DOI

10.3233/JAD-181196

PMID

31322559

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Poor dual-task gait (walking while performing a cognitively demanding task) has been linked to progression to dementia in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, many of these findings come from research environments; gait performance across the cognitive spectrum has not previously been studied in a clinical setting.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether patients from a memory clinic show differences in usual and dual-task gait speed and dual-task cost (DTC) based on cognitive diagnosis.

METHODS: Patients in the Aging Brain Memory clinic (London, ON) performed a usual gait walk and three dual-task gait walks: counting backwards by ones, naming animals, and counting backwards by seven (serial sevens) out loud. Patients were timed with a stopwatch over a six-meter path marked on the floor. One-way ANOVA was performed to evaluate associations between gait speed and DTC (% ) across groups.

RESULTS: One hundred ninety-four patients with subjective cognitive impairment (SCI; n = 46), MCI (n = 77), or dementia (n = 71) were assessed. Performance in usual (p <  0.001) and dual-task gait speed (counting gait p <  0.001; naming animals p <  0.001; serial sevens p = 0.004) decreased across the spectrum of cognitive impairment. Patients with dementia had significantly higher DTC in both counting gait (p = 0.02) and naming animals (p = 0.04) conditions compared with patients with SCI and MCI, who had statistically similar DTC in all conditions.

CONCLUSION: Dual-task gait performance significantly declines across the cognitive spectrum in a clinical setting. Dual-task gait testing may be used in conjunction with traditional assessments for diagnosing cognitive impairments.


Language: en

Keywords

Aging; cognition; dual-task gait; gait

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