Canadian researchers are the first to study how different patterns in the way older adults walk might more accurately diagnose different types of dementia and identify Alzheimer’s disease.
A new study by a Canadian research team, led by London researchers at the Lawson Institute for Health Research and Western University, assessed the gait patterns and brain function of 500 participants currently enrolled in clinical trials. His findings are published today in Alzheimer’s and dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
“We have long-standing evidence that cognitive problems, such as poor memory and executive dysfunction, can be predictors of dementia. We are now seeing that motor performance, specifically the way we walk, can help diagnose different types of dementia. neurodegenerative diseases “. says Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso, a Lawson scientist and professor at the Western Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Dr. Montero-Odasso is known for his research on the relationship between mobility and cognitive impairment in aging. Leading the London Mobility, Exercise and Cognition (MEC) team, he is a pioneer in new approaches and diagnostic treatments to prevent and combat early dementia.
This study compared gait deficiencies across the cognitive spectrum, including people with subjective cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia, in addition to controls. healthy cognitive.
Four independent gait patterns were identified: rhythm, rhythm, variability, and postural control. Only high gait variability was associated with lower cognitive performance and identified Alzheimer’s disease with 70% accuracy. The variability of gait means the step-by-step fluctuations in distance and time that happen when we walk.
“This is the first strong evidence that shows that gait variability is an important marker for processes that occur in areas of the brain related to both cognitive impairment and motor control,” says Dr. Frederico Perruccini-Faria, Lawson’s research assistant and postdoctoral fellow at Western Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, who is the first author of the paper. “We have shown that high gait variability as a marker of this cognitive-cortical dysfunction can reliably identify Alzheimer’s disease compared to other neurodegenerative disorders.”
When cognitive-cortical dysfunction occurs, the person’s ability to perform several tasks at once, such as talking while walking or chopping vegetables while chatting with the family, is affected.
Having gait variability as a motor marker for cognitive impairment and different types of disease could allow gait assessment as a clinical trial, for example, if patients use portable technology. “We see that gait variability is similar to an arrhythmia. Healthcare providers could measure it with patients in the clinic, similar to how we assess heart rate with electrocardiograms,” adds Dr. Montero-Odasso.
This study was primarily funded by the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), a collaborative research program that addresses the challenge of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. The CCNA was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
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