Abstract
Patients with neurodegenerative diseases are required to use cognitive resources while maintaining postural control. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a frontal cognitive task on postural control in patients with Alzheimer, Parkinson and controls. Thirty-eight participants were instructed to stand upright on a force platform in two experimental conditions: single and dual task. Participants with Parkinson's disease presented an increase in the coefficient of variation greater than 100% in the dual task as compared to the single task for center of pressure (COP) area and COP path. In addition, patients with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease had a higher number of errors during the execution of the cognitive task when compared to the group of elderly without neurodegenerative diseases. The motor cortex, which is engaged in postural control, does not seem to compete with frontal brain regions in the performance of the cognitive task. However, patients with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease presented worsened performance in cognitive task.
Highlights
To date, little research has been done on the effects of completing dual tasks on postural control in patients with neurodegenerative diseases, especially in the case of Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s diseases (PD)
MANOVA showed no significant interactions between groups and conditions for the center of pressure (COP) variables path (F1,.35 = 0.01; p=0.98) and area (F1,35 = 0.02; p=0.96) (Figure 1)
Since there was high variability for the dual task condition, we calculated the coefficient of variation (CV = 100 * SD/M) for all COP variables by group and conditions
Summary
Little research has been done on the effects of completing dual tasks on postural control in patients with neurodegenerative diseases, especially in the case of Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s diseases (PD). A study by Holmes, Jenkins, Johnson, Adams, and Spaulding (2010) found that patients with PD had significantly reduced trajectories of body sway when compared with subjects without neurodegenerative diseases in dual task situations involving postural control procedures performed concomitantly with two cognitive tasks, including numerical counting and reciting a monologue. That is, when subjects are faced with the challenge of performing dual tasks, they would prioritize postural control and favor the maintenance of balance. These results conflict with other studies that reported an increase in postural instability when performing dual tasks in patients with PD (Marchese, Bove & Abbruzzese, 2003; Morris, Iansek, Smithson & Huxham, 2000)
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