Simultaneously Measuring Gait and Cognitive Performance in Cognitively Healthy and Cognitively Impaired Older Adults: The Basel Motor-Cognition Dual-Task Paradigm

• Autores: Nathan Theill, Mike Martin, Vera Schumacher, Stephanie A. Bridenbaugh, R. W. Kressig
• Localización: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, ISSN 0002-8614, Vol. 59, Nº. 6, 2011, págs. 1012-1018
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • OBJECTIVES: To investigate dual-task performance of gait and cognition in cognitively healthy and cognitively impaired older adults using a motor-cognition dual-task paradigm.

    DESIGN: Cross-sectional retrospective study.

    SETTING: The Basel Memory Clinic and the Basel Study on the Elderly (Project BASEL).

    PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred eleven older adults (mean age 77.2 ± 6.2, 350 (49.2%) female and 361 (50.8%) male).

    MEASUREMENTS: Gait velocity and cognitive task performance using a working memory (counting backward from 50 by 2s) and a semantic memory (enumerating animal names) task were measured during single- and dual-task conditions. Gait was assessed using the GAITRite electronic walkway system. Cognitive impairment was defined as a score less than 25 on the Mini-Mental State Examination.

    RESULTS: During dual tasks, participants reduced gait velocity (P<.001) and calculated fewer numbers (P=.03) but did not enumerate fewer animals and did not make more errors or repetitions (P>.10). Cognitively impaired individuals had lower baseline gait velocity and a greater reduction in gait velocity but not cognitive performance during dual tasks than cognitively healthy participants (P<.01).

    CONCLUSION: Gait velocity was lower during both dual tasks, whereas decrease in cognitive performance depended on the cognitive ability needed in the dual-task condition. Cognitively impaired individuals generally have poorer baseline performance and greater dual task-related gait velocity reduction than those who are cognitively healthy. Future research should include different conditions for gait to determine adaptive potentials of older adults.