Assessing the Relationships among Age, Cognition, and Gait

Presenter

Jessica Stephen

Campus

UMass Amherst

Sponsor

Douglas Martini, Department of Kinesiology, UMass Amherst

Schedule

Session 4, 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board A94, Campus Center Auditorium, Row 5 (A81-A100) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

Background and Aims:

The relationships among age, cognition, and gait are poorly defined in terms of their impact on mobility among older adults (OAs). Investigating how they interact is essential to understand how each contributes to OA fall risk. This study’s aim was to explore the effects of age on cognition and mobility in young (YAs) and OAs during visual perturbed gait. 

Methods:

Ten YAs and 10 OAs participated. Global cognition, executive function, and attention were quantified by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. The gait protocol consisted of two treadmill conditions: 1) baseline walk with projected stepping stones that matched participants’ stride and 2) walk with virtual stepping stones perturbed at semi-random intervals, requiring step adjustments. The gait outcome was stride variability. One-way ANOVAs assessed stride variability group differences. Spearman correlations assessed the relationships between cognition and gait within the OAs.     

Results:

At baseline, the OAs had significantly greater stride time variability than the YAs (F(1,18)=10.73; p=0.004). Stride length variability was not significant at baseline, but the Cohen’s d effect was 0.90. During perturbed gait, OAs had significantly less stride length variability than the YAs (F(1,17)=6.16; p=0.025). No correlations were significant, however the relationship (ρ=-0.619; p=0.057) between executive function and stride time variability may be significant with a larger OA sample. 

Conclusion:

These results suggest there may be an age effect on the relationship between stride variability and cognition but a study with a larger sample is needed to confirm this.

Keywords

gait, aging, cognition, mobility, fall risk

Research Area

Sports and Exercise Science + Physiology

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