Weiss, Aner;
Herman, Talia;
Giladi, Nir;
Hausdorff, Jeffrey M.
Association between Community Ambulation Walking Patterns and Cognitive Function in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: Further Insights into Motor-Cognitive Links
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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Association between Community Ambulation Walking Patterns and Cognitive Function in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: Further Insights into Motor-Cognitive Links
Contributor:
Weiss, Aner;
Herman, Talia;
Giladi, Nir;
Hausdorff, Jeffrey M.
Description:
<jats:p><jats:italic>Background</jats:italic>. Cognitive function is generally evaluated based on testing in the clinic, but this may not always reflect real-life function. We tested whether parameters derived from long-term, continuous monitoring of gait are associated with cognitive function in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).<jats:italic>Methods</jats:italic>. 107 patients with PD (age: 64.9 ± 9.3 yrs; UPDRS motor sum “off”: 40.4 ± 13.2; 25.23% women) wore a 3D accelerometer on their lower back for 3 days. Computerized measures of global cognitive function, executive function, attention, and nonverbal memory were assessed. Three-day acceleration derived measures included cadence, variability, bilateral coordination, and dynamic postural control. Associations between the acceleration derived measures and cognitive function were determined.<jats:italic>Results</jats:italic>. Linear regression showed associations between vertical gait variability and cadence and between global cognitive score, attention, and executive function (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>≤</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.048</mml:mn></mml:math>). Dynamic postural control was associated with global cognitive score and attention (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>≤</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.027</mml:mn></mml:math>). Nonverbal memory was not associated with the acceleration-derived measures.<jats:italic>Conclusions</jats:italic>. These findings suggest that metrics derived from a 3-day worn body-fixed sensor reflect cognitive function, further supporting the idea that the gait pattern may be altered as cognition declines and that gait provides a window into cognitive function in patients with PD.</jats:p>