The effects of normal aging and orthopedic conditions on gait patterns during customary walking have been extensively investigated. Empirical evidence supports the notion that sex differences exist in the gait patterns of young adults but it is unclear as to whether sex differences exist in older adults. The aim of this study was to investigate sex-specific differences in gait among older adults. Study participants were 336 adults (50 – 96 years; 162 women) enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) who completed walking tasks at self-selected speed without assistance. After adjusting for significant covariates, women walked with higher cadence (p = 0.01) and shorter stride length (p = 0.006) compared to men, while gait speed was not significantly related to sex. Women also had less hip range of motion (ROM; p = 0.004) and greater ankle ROM (p < 0.001) in the sagittal-plane, and greater hip ROM (p = 0.004) in the frontal-plane. Hip absorptive mechanical work expenditure (MWE) of the women was greater in the sagittal-plane (p < 0.001) and lower in the frontal-plane (p < 0.001), compared to men. In summary, women’s gait is characterized by greater ankle ROM than men while men tend to have greater hip ROM than women. Characterizing unique gait patterns of women and men with aging may be beneficial for detecting the early stages of gait abnormalities that may lead to pathology.

BackgroundWhether older adults with sarcopenia who underperform controls on tests of physical performance and cognition also have a higher likelihood of combined cognitive-physical impairment is not clear. We assessed the impact of sarcopenia on impairment in both aspects of functionality and the relative contribution of its components, muscle mass and strength.MethodsTwo hundred and twenty-three community-dwelling adults aged 40 years and older (mean age =68.1±10.6 years; 65% female) were recruited and underwent physical functionality, anthropometry, and cognitive testing. Participants with low muscle mass were categorized as pre-sarcopenic; those with low muscle mass and muscle strength as sarcopenic; those with higher muscle mass and low muscle strength only were categorized as non-sarcopenic and were compared on risk of cognitive impairment (Montreal Cognitive Assessment <26; Ascertaining Dementia 8 ≥2), physical impairment (Mini Physical Performance Test <12), both, or neither by ordinal logistic regression.ResultsCompared to controls, those with sarcopenia were six times more likely to have combined cognitive impairment/physical impairment with a fully adjusted model showing a three-fold increased odds ratio. The results were consistent across different measures of global cognition (odds ratio =3.46, 95% confidence interval =1.07–11.45 for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment; odds ratio =3.61, 95% confidence interval =1.11–11.72 for Ascertaining Dementia 8). Pre-sarcopenic participants were not different from controls. The effect of sarcopenia on cognition is related to low muscle strength rather than low muscle mass.ConclusionIndividuals with sarcopenia are not only more likely to have single but also to have dual impairment in cognitive and physical function. Interventions designed to prevent sarcopenia and improve muscle strength may help reduce the burden of cognitive and physical impairments of functionality in community-dwelling seniors.

Objective The mechanisms that underlie the association between abdominal obesity and depression risk in older persons are not well known, but the “leptin hypothesis” of depression suggests that leptin resistance may be involved in mood regulation. We tested whether high circulatory concentration of leptin, alone and in combination with visceral adiposity, is associated with onset of depression in a sample of older persons. Method Participants were 1220 men and 1282 women aged 70–79 years, enrolled in the Health, Aging and Body Composition study. Plasma concentration of leptin and abdominal visceral fat ascertained by computed tomography were assessed at baseline (April 1997 – June 1998). Onset of depression was defined as a Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale 10-item score ≥ 10 and/or new antidepressant medication use at any annual visit over a 5-year follow-up. Results Higher leptin was associated with the risk of depression onset in men with high visceral fat (HR=1.25,95%CI=1.06–1.46, p=0.01) but not in those with normal visceral fat (HR=0.98,95%CI=0.80–1.19, p=0.80) (leptin*visceral fat p=0.04). No interaction between leptin and visceral fat was detected in the analysis focusing on women (p=0.90). Conclusion In older men, high leptin was associated with an increased onset of depressive symptoms especially in the presence of abdominal obesity, suggesting that underlying leptin resistance may play a role in this link. Differences in visceral fat levels and metabolic consequences may explain the absence of this association in women. These findings suggest a potential biological link between depression, obesity and their joint association with negative health outcomes.

This study assessed the feasibility of conducting 3 nonpharmacological interventions with older adults in dementia, exploring the effects of chair yoga (CY), compared to music intervention (MI) and chair-based exercise (CBE) in this population. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), 3 community sites were randomly assigned 1:1:1 to CY, MI, or CBE. Participants attended twice-weekly 45-minute sessions for 12 weeks. Thirty-one participants were enrolled; 27 safely completed the interventions and final data collection (retention rate of 87%). Linear mixed modeling was performed to examine baseline and longitudinal group differences. The CY group improved significantly in quality of life compared to the MI group (CY mean = 35.6, standard deviation [SD] = 3.8; MI mean = 29.9, SD = 5.3, P = .010). However, no significant group differences were observed in physical function, behavioral, or psychological symptoms (eg, for mini-PPT: slopetime = 0.01, standard error [SE] = 0.3, P = .984 in the CBE group; slopetime = −0.1, SE = 0.3, P = .869 in the MI group; slopetime = −0.3, SE = 0.3, P = .361 in the CY group) over the 12-week intervention period. Overall, this pilot study is notable as the first cluster RCT of a range of nonpharmacological interventions to examine the feasibility of such interventions in older adults, most with moderate-to-severe dementia. Future clinical trials should be conducted to examine the effects of nonpharmacological interventions for older adults with dementia on health outcomes.

The goals of this cross-sectional study were to explore correlates of walking speed in a large wide age-ranged population and to identify factors affecting lower walking speed at older ages. Participants were 3,872 community-dwelling adults in the first follow-up of the SardiNIA study who completed a 4-m walking test. Sex-specific correlates of walking speed included marital status, height, waist circumference, pulse wave velocity, comorbidity, subjective health, strength, and personality. Effect modifiers of the age-walking speed association included extraversion (<55 years, p = .019) and education (<55 years, p = .021; > or =55 years, p = .012) in women, and openness (<55 years, p = .005), waist circumference (<55 years, p = .010), and subjective health (<55 years, p = .014) in men. The strong impact of personality suggests that certain personality traits may be associated with behaviors that affect physical performance and condition the reduced mobility mostly at younger ages. If these patterns are confirmed in longitudinal studies, personality may be an important target for prevention.

Background Dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are under-recognized in community settings. This may be due in part to the lack of brief dementia screening tools available to clinicians. We compared two brief, informant-based screening tests: the AD8 and the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) in a community-based neurology practice in the Midwestern United States Methods We examined 186 consecutive patients (44 controls, 13 with MCI, and 129 with dementia). Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to examine the ability of AD8 and IQCODE to discriminate between controls and MCI or dementia. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios were reported. Results AD8 differentiated healthy controls from MCI (p<.001) or dementia (p<.001), as well as MCI from dementia (p=.008). The IQCODE differentiated controls and MCI from dementia (both p<.001), and between controls and MCI (p=.002). Both AD8 (AUC = 0.953, 95% CI: 0.92–0.99) and IQCODE (AUC = 0.930, 95% CI: 0.88–0.97) provided discrimination between controls and patients with dementia; however the AD8 had superior sensitivity detecting dementia (99.2%) and MCI (100%) compared to the IQCODE (79.1% for dementia, 46.1% for MCI) with non-overlapping confidence intervals. Using published cut-offs (AD8 ≥ 2, IQCODE ≥ 3.4), only one case of dementia was missed with the AD8 while the IQCODE failed to detect dementia in 27 individuals. The AD8 detected MCI in all 13 individuals while the IQCODE misclassified 7 individuals. Conclusion Both the AD8 and IQCODE were able to detect dementia in a community setting. The AD8, however, was more successful than IQCODE in detecting MCI. If simple and efficient screening for early cognitive impairment is the goal, particularly in the early stages (e.g., for prevention trials or public screening), the combination of an informant interview (the AD8) and a brief performance measure could be considered as they meet the basic requirements of the Personalized Prevention Plan for Medicare beneficiaries.

BackgroundSarcopenia and obesity both negatively impact health including cognitive function. Their coexistence, however, can pose an even higher threat likely surpassing their individual effects. We assessed the relationship of sarcopenic obesity with performance on global- and subdomain-specific tests of cognition.Patients and methodsThe study was a cross-sectional analysis of data from a series of community-based aging and memory studies. The sample consisted of a total of 353 participants with an average age of 69 years with a clinic visit and valid cognitive (eg, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, animal naming), functional (eg, grip strength, chair stands), and body composition (eg, muscle mass, body mass index, percent body fat) measurements.ResultsSarcopenic obesity was associated with the lowest performance on global cognition (Est.Definition1=−2.85±1.38, p=0.039), followed by sarcopenia (Est.Definition1=−1.88±0.79, p=0.017) and obesity (Est.Definition1=−1.10±0.81, p=0.175) adjusted for sociodemographic factors. The latter, however, did not differ significantly from the comparison group consisting of older adults with neither sarcopenia nor obesity. Subdomain-specific analyses revealed executive function (Est.Definition1=−1.22±0.46 for sarcopenic obesity; Est.Definition1=−0.76±0.26 for sarcopenia; Est.Definition1=−0.52±0.27 for obesity all at p<0.05) and orientation (Est.Definition1=0.59±0.26 for sarcopenic obesity; Est.Definition1=−0.36±0.15 for sarcopenia; Est.Definition1=−0.29±0.15 all but obesity significant at p<0.05) as the individual cognitive skills likely to be impacted. Potential age-specific and depression effects are discussed.ConclusionSarcopenia alone and in combination with sarcopenic obesity can be used in clinical practice as indicators of probable cognitive impairment. At-risk older adults may benefit from programs addressing loss of cognitive function by maintaining/improving strength and preventing obesity.

Cognitive and physical aspects of functionality are closely related. However, whether physical decline differs by dementia type and progression rate is debatable. To address these issues, we conducted a longitudinal study of 766 older adults whose physical performance and cognitive status were assessed annually with standard assessment tools (e.g. Physical Performance Test, Clinical Dementia Rate-CDR) for =8yrs. Compared to participants who remained cognitively-normal, those progressing to later-stage dementia (CDR=1) declined in their mobility by a factor of 2.82 (p<0.001), followed by those who maintained a later-stage diagnosis (slope=−1.84, p<0.001), those progressing from early-to-later (CDR=0.5 to CDR=1) stage dementia (slope=−1.20, p<0.001), and those who progressed to early-stage dementia (slope=−0.39, p=0.038) suggesting a steeper physical decline with dementia progression, particularly in those with the fastest disease progression. Although all types of dementia experienced mobility decline, those progressing to non-AD dementias, especially vascular dementia declined faster than those who remained normal (slope=−2.70, p<0.001) or progressed to AD (slope=−2.18, p<0.001). These associations were better captured by the gait/balance component of physical functionality. Our findings suggest that rapidly progressing dementia patients particularly those with non-AD subtypes should be targeted for interventions to maintain or improve gait/balance and prevent functional decline and disability although AD patients may also benefit.