Gait and Cognition: Exploring Cognition and Dual-task Costs in a Group of Community Dwelling Alzheimer’s Disease Patients over 6 Months

• Author / Creator

  Davis, Christopher MJ

• Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder resulting in cognitive decline affecting many activities of daily living including gait. Many tools exist to monitor AD progression, including cognitive examinations, and functional tests of mobility. The purpose of the present study is to analyse a diverse group of 18 community dwelling AD patients at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months to monitor changes to select cognitive and functional tests; to examine dual-task costs to specific gait parameters; and examine possible correlations between cognitive scores and dual-task costs to gait. Three cognitive tests were used: Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and two subsets of the Cognigram Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB1 and CBB2). Gait was assessed using a GAITRite electronic walkway under single-task and dual-task conditions. Previous research has identified some of the costs to gait due to dual-tasking in cognitively impaired older adults compared to healthy older adults includes: decreases to gait speed, cadence, stride length; increases to stride time, and stride time variability. In the present study, these measures were assessed as a percentage change between their preferred walk (PW) and their dual-task walk (DTW); this percentage change while dual-tasking is referred to as their dual-task costs (DTC).
  Results: dual-task costs to gait and cognitive data show no significant change over the 6 month time period. Correlation coefficients between cognition and dual-task costs showed mixed results, suggesting a partial relationship between cognitive scores and some gait measures of dual-task costs, with the MoCA being most highly correlated. The animal fluency dual-task created statistically significant changes to all gait measures including means and coefficients of variation; all these changes were associated with poorer gait kinematics. Some gait variables showed consistent results amongst participants, while others showed high ranges of variability, expressed through the range of standard deviations. High levels of variability may suggest that those measures are more sensitive to differences between participants, and may therefore make them valuable measures to explore more thoroughly in the future. Gait variability DTCs were not correlated with any cognitive tests.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Gait
  • Cognition
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Dual-task

• Graduation date

  Fall 2022

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-xmsy-4x05

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.