Motor slowing precedes cognitive impairment in the oldest old

Abstract

Eighty-five healthy elderly subjects were prospectively evaluated for 3 years to determine motor differences between those who remain cognitively intact and those who developed cognitive impairment during prospective follow-up. The 18 subjects who developed cognitive impairment had slower finger tapping and took longer to walk 30 feet before or at the time of cognitive impairment. Coordination was more impaired and steps, but not balance, deteriorated more rapidly, independent of other variables.

Walking speed in elderly outpatients depends on the assessment method

“…In accordance with other studies performed in community-dwelling elderly and healthy elderly (Atkinson et al 2007;Auyeung et al 2008;Blankevoort et al 2013;Camicioli et al 1998;Rosano et al 2005;Soumare et al 2009), we found an association between the presence of low cognitive performance and walking speed assessed by respectively the 4-and 10-m walking tests. The largest effect size was found for the walking speed assessed with the 4-m walking test.…”

“…Therefore, walking speed is an important indicator of health status and function and can be used as a 'vital sign' (Fritz and Lusardi 2009;Studenski et al 2011;Taekema et al 2012). It has been shown that walking speed associates with aspects of poor health status or outcomes in older adults, such as mortality (Abellan van Kan et al 2009;Cesari et al 2005;Newman et al 2006;Toots et al 2013), mobility impairment (Newman et al 2006;Purser et al 2005;Rolland et al 2004), falls (Abellan van Kan et al 2009;Montero-Odasso et al 2005), presence of cognitive impairment (Auyeung et al 2008;Camicioli et al 1998), cardiopulmonary diseases (Dumurgier et al 2010;Ilgin et al 2011;Newman et al 2006;Rosano et al 2011), hospitalization, and nursing home placement (van Abellan et al 2009;Cesari et al 2005;Giuliani et al 2008;MonteroOdasso et al 2005). Cut-off values for walking speed are used for the prediction of aforementioned health outcomes and underpin clinical decision making.…”

On the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease from multimodal signals: A survey

“…Some report that these are nonexistent and gait is not useful for AD prediction [273], while others report interesting results that could be used for AD prediction. Camicioli et al [274] affirmed that subjects developing cognitive decline walked more slowly than healthy people do, and that they presented limbic coordination impairment. Scherder et al [268] affirmed this information and added that rigidity is already present in the first stages of the dementia.…”

Healthy Brain Aging: Role of Exercise and Physical Activity

“…Epidemiologic studies have also reported that low physical performance [70][71][72] is associated with higher rates of cognitive decline and dementia. Low physical activity is 1 of the main factors for poor physical performance.…”

“…Low physical activity is 1 of the main factors for poor physical performance. A poor score on tests such as walking speed, [70][71][72] or poor results on the timed chair-stand test, standing balance, or grip-strength tests, 72 are associated with higher rates of cognitive decline and dementia. In cross-sectional studies, cardiovascular fitness was associated with attention and executive function 73,74 or visuospatial function.…”