Cerebral Microbleeds Were Related With Poor Cognitive Performances on the Dual Task Condition in Older Adults.

Xuanting Li,Yutong Hou,Lei Yang,Wei Qin,Shuna Yang,Wenli Hu,Yue Li,Qixin Huang

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2021.807753

Xuanting Li, Yutong Hou + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.807753

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Abstract

Background: The dual task (DT) was commonly used to assess the risk of falls in older adults and patients with neurological disorders. However, the performance on DT conditions has not been well investigated in patients with cerebral microbleed (CMB). This study is aimed to compare the performance in DT tests between older adults with and without CMB, and to explore the association between CMB and cognitive performances of DT.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 211 old adults participated, involving 68 CMB patients. The task protocol involved two global cognition tests, two single cognitive tests (serial 7 subtraction and semantic fluency), two single motor tasks [8-m walking and timed up and go test (TUG)], and three DT tests [walking and serial subtraction (WSS), walking and semantic fluency (WSF), and TUG and serial subtraction (TUGSS)]. The time taken to complete each task and the number of correct responses were recorded. For each DT condition, the correct response rate (CRR) and the dual-task effect (DTE) for the correct number were calculated.Results: Compared with subjects without CMB, CMB patients had worse cognitive performances on DT condition in CRR of WSS (p = 0.003), WSF (p = 0.030) and TUGSS (p = 0.006), and DTE of WSS (p = 0.017). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of CMB was an independent risk factor for the impairment group for CRR of TUGSS (OR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.11–5.82; p = 0.027) with the adjustment for confounders, rather than CRR of WSS and WSF, or DTE of WSS. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that CRR of TUGSS decreased with the increase of CMB number grades (β, −0.144; 95% CI, −0.027, −0.002; p = 0.028).Conclusion: The present study indicated that CMBs were closely associated with poor cognitive performances on DT in the elderly. Strongest effect size was seen for CRR of TUGSS, where performance deficits increased in proportion to the degree of CMB burden.

Highlights

Dual task (DT) refers to a paradigm that an individual performs two attention-demanding tasks with different goals simultaneously
Binary logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of cerebral microbleed (CMB) was an independent risk factor for the impairment group of correct response rate (CRR) of TUGSS
Multiple linear regression analysis showed that CRR of TUGSS decreased with the increase of CMB grades (β, −0.144; 95% CI, −0.027, −0.002; p = 0.028) after the correction of age, sex, education, smoking, hyperlipidemia, lipid-lowering drug, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)

Summary

Introduction

Dual task (DT) refers to a paradigm that an individual performs two attention-demanding tasks with different goals simultaneously. Taking two tasks concurrently has negative effects on the performance of both tasks (Nonnekes et al, 2020). The difference between the performance on each single task and DT provides an index of DT ability. In people’s daily life, performing various activities requires the coordination of complex cognitive and motor functions. The onedimensional cognitive or motor test may not be accurate enough to assess people’s ability of daily living. The dual task (DT) was commonly used to assess the risk of falls in older adults and patients with neurological disorders. This study is aimed to compare the performance in DT tests between older adults with and without CMB, and to explore the association between CMB and cognitive performances of DT

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