Article

Cognitive dysfunction is associated with slower gait speed in older women,
but whether cognitive function affects gait performance earlier in life has yet
to be investigated. Thus, the objective of this study was to test the hypothesis
that cognitive function will discriminate gait performance in healthy younger women. METHODS: Fast-pace and dual-task gait speed were measured in 30 young to
middle-aged (30-45y) and 26 older (61-80y) women without mild cognitive
impairment. Visuoperceptual ability, working memory, executive function, and
learning ability were assessed using neuropsychological tests. Within each age
group, women were divided by the median into lower and higher cognitive function
groups to compare gait performance. RESULTS:
Younger women with higher
visuoperceptual ability had faster fast-pace (2.25+/-0.30 vs. 1.98+/-0.18m/s,
p</=0.01) and dual-task gait speed (2.02+/-0.27 vs. 1.69+/-0.25m/s, p</=0.01)
than women with lower visuoperceptual ability. The difference in dual-task gait
speed remained significant (p=0.02) after adjusting for age, years of education,
and other covariates. Dividing younger women based on other cognitive domains
showed no difference in gait performance. In contrast, working memory and
executive function discriminated dual-task gait speed (p<0.05) in older women
after adjusting for age and education. CONCLUSION:
To our knowledge, this is the
first study to show that poorer cognitive function even at a relatively young age
can negatively impact mobility. Different cognitive functions discriminated gait
performance based on age, highlighting a possible influence of aging in the
relationship between cognitive function and mobility in women.
CI - Copyright (c) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS