Walking slower in old age may be a warning sign of dementia, according to a large-scale study.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Monash University in Australia followed people over the age of 75 and found that those who lost 0.05 meters per second of speed each year and showed signs of mental decline were most at risk.
The international team said this is likely because the brain is impaired during the debilitating state, but it also affects areas related to walking.
It is estimated that about five million Americans suffer from dementia, and there is no cure for the condition, only treatments that relieve symptoms.
The graph above shows the incidence of dementia (y-axis) in the four groups from the start of the study. These include dual-descendants who have slower gait and cognition (dark blue line), people with cognitive decline (orange), people with slower gait only (blue line), and people without any of the conditions (green line)
Scientists say walking about five percent slower a year in old age could be a warning sign of dementia (archive photo)
The study, published Tuesday on the open JAMA Network, followed a group of more than 15,000 seniors for nearly a decade.
The newspaper tracked the cognition and walking pace of 17,000 seniors over seven years.
Participants were mostly female and white Americans and Australians.
The scientists measured cognition every 24 months with tests of memory loss, processing speed, and verbal fluency.
Walking speed was monitored twice every two years by measuring the participants’ speed as they walked 10 feet.
People who had “double-grandchildren”—people whose gaits each year slowed down and reduced cognition—were more likely to be diagnosed with dementia.
The decrease in walking speed was defined as a loss of 0.05 meters per second or more—about 1.2-1.4 per year—from normal speed.
This group saw approximately 178 cases detected, or 11.3% of the total number of participants.
By comparison, those who did not show declines in cognition or gait, a person’s walking speed, were less likely to have the disease, with only 25 (0.3%) participants diagnosed.
The scientists also looked at participants who had decreased walking speed only and cognition only.
This found that the former had a similar risk of disease as those who did not regress (27 cases or one percent). In the second group, 158 cases were diagnosed, corresponding to 3.9% of the group.
Scientists analyzed the data last year in tests conducted between 2010 and 2017.
Dr. Taya Collyer, a Monash University biostatistician who led the study, and others said: [brain] areas required for the diagnosis of dementia (in addition to memory loss).
‘The relationship between’ [brain] Areas such as processing speed and verbal fluency were explained by crossover to underlying networks or pathologies.
The team also said their findings underline the need to include walking tests in the diagnosis of a patient with dementia.
They said: ‘These findings highlight the importance of walking in dementia risk assessment.
“They suggest that a double reduction in walking speed and a measure of memory may be the best combination to assess future decline.”
Source: Daily Mail
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