Gait Rather Than Cognition Predicts Decline in Specific Cognitive Domains in Early Parkinson's Disease

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Author(s)
Morris, Rosie
Lord, Sue
Lawson, Rachael A
Coleman, Shirley
Galna, Brook
Duncan, Gordon W
Khoo, Tien K
Yarnall, Alison J
Burn, David J
Rochester, Lynn
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2017
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Show full item recordAbstract
Background: Dementia is significant in Parkinson’s disease (PD) with personal and socioeconomic impact. Early identification of risk is of
upmost importance to optimize management. Gait precedes and predicts cognitive decline and dementia in older adults. We aimed to evaluate
gait characteristics as predictors of cognitive decline in newly diagnosed PD.
Methods: One hundred and nineteen participants recruited at diagnosis were assessed at baseline, 18 and 36 months. Baseline gait was
characterized by variables that mapped to five domains: pace, rhythm, variability, asymmetry, and postural control. Cognitive assessment
included ...
View more >Background: Dementia is significant in Parkinson’s disease (PD) with personal and socioeconomic impact. Early identification of risk is of upmost importance to optimize management. Gait precedes and predicts cognitive decline and dementia in older adults. We aimed to evaluate gait characteristics as predictors of cognitive decline in newly diagnosed PD. Methods: One hundred and nineteen participants recruited at diagnosis were assessed at baseline, 18 and 36 months. Baseline gait was characterized by variables that mapped to five domains: pace, rhythm, variability, asymmetry, and postural control. Cognitive assessment included attention, fluctuating attention, executive function, visual memory, and visuospatial function. Mixed-effects models tested independent gait predictors of cognitive decline. Results: Gait characteristics of pace, variability, and postural control predicted decline in fluctuating attention and visual memory, whereas baseline neuropsychological assessment performance did not predict decline. Conclusions: This provides novel evidence for gait as a clinical biomarker for PD cognitive decline in early disease.
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View more >Background: Dementia is significant in Parkinson’s disease (PD) with personal and socioeconomic impact. Early identification of risk is of upmost importance to optimize management. Gait precedes and predicts cognitive decline and dementia in older adults. We aimed to evaluate gait characteristics as predictors of cognitive decline in newly diagnosed PD. Methods: One hundred and nineteen participants recruited at diagnosis were assessed at baseline, 18 and 36 months. Baseline gait was characterized by variables that mapped to five domains: pace, rhythm, variability, asymmetry, and postural control. Cognitive assessment included attention, fluctuating attention, executive function, visual memory, and visuospatial function. Mixed-effects models tested independent gait predictors of cognitive decline. Results: Gait characteristics of pace, variability, and postural control predicted decline in fluctuating attention and visual memory, whereas baseline neuropsychological assessment performance did not predict decline. Conclusions: This provides novel evidence for gait as a clinical biomarker for PD cognitive decline in early disease.
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Journal Title
Journals of Gerontology. Series A: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences
Volume
72
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Subject
Clinical sciences
Clinical sciences not elsewhere classified