Just like juggling while riding a unicycle, performing multiple tasks at once can be challenging, especially for older adults with cognitive impairment. A recent study explored how story recall specifically impacted the way older adults walked. The researchers recruited participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), subjective cognitive decline (SCD), and normal cognition (NC). They evaluated gait kinematic parameters, such as speed and knee peak extension angle, during various dual-task conditions. Interestingly, they found that the MCI group had slower gait speed during story recall compared to the SCD group, and they also exhibited a larger knee peak extension angle. Additionally, the dual-task cost (DTC) was higher during story recall compared to other dual-task conditions. This suggests that story recall may be a sensitive indicator of gait impairments in individuals with cognitive impairment. To learn more about this study and its implications for understanding the relationship between cognitive function and walking ability, check out the full article!

ObjectiveCognitive and motor dysfunctions in older people become more evident while dual-tasking. Several dual-task paradigms have been used to identify older individuals at the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. This study evaluated gait kinematic parameters for dual-task (DT) conditions in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), subjective cognitive decline (SCD), and normal cognition (NC).MethodThis is a cross-sectional, clinical-based study carried out at the Zhongshan Rehabilitation Branch of First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, China.ParticipantsWe recruited 83 community-dwelling participants and sorted them into MCI (n = 24), SCD (n = 33), and NC (n = 26) groups based on neuropsychological tests. Their mean age was 72.0 (5.55) years, and male–female ratio was 42/41 (p = 0.112). Each participant performed one single-task walk and four DT walks: DT calculation with subtracting serial sevens; DT naming animals; DT story recall; and DT words recall.Outcome and measuresKinematic gait parameters of speed, knee peak extension angle, and dual-task cost (DTC) were obtained using the Vicon Nexus motion capture system and calculated by Visual 3D software. A mixed-effect linear regression model was used to analyze the data.ResultsThe difference in gait speed under DT story recall and DT calculation was −0.099 m/s and − 0.119 m/s (p = 0.04, p = 0.013) between MCI and SCD, respectively. Knee peak extension angle under DT story recall, words recall, and single task was bigger in the MCI group compared to the NC group, respectively (p = 0.001, p = 0.001, p = 0.004). DTC was higher in the DT story recall test than all other DT conditions (p < 0.001).ConclusionKinematic gait parameters of knee peak extension angle for the DT story recall were found to be sensitive enough to discriminate MCI individuals from NC group. DTC under DT story recall was higher than the other DT conditions.

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