Abstract
Improving dementia screening procedures beyond simple assessment of current cognitive performance is timely given the ongoing phenomenon of population aging. A slow or declining gait speed (GS) is a potential early indicator of cognitive decline scarcely investigated in very old people. Here, we investigated the 5-year associations of baseline GS, change in GS, and cognitive function with subsequent dementia development in people aged 85 years and older (n = 296) without dementia at baseline. Declining and a slow baseline GS were associated with higher odds of dementia development after adjusting for confounders (e.g.,age, sex, and dependency in activities of daily living) and missing GS values at follow-up. The GS decline was associated with cognitive decline in participants who developed dementia. The results support the potential of GS tests to predict future cognitive decline among community- and nursing home-dwelling very old people.
Highlights
Improving dementia screening procedures beyond simple assessment of current cognitive performance is timely given the ongoing phenomenon of population aging
These results suggest that a low or declining gait speed (GS) may be indicative of future cognitive function, though there is limited information regarding the association of GS in relation to dementia pathogenesis in very old people
In the NoDem group, ΔGS and ΔMMSE were not associated. In this longitudinal study of very old people without dementia at baseline, including community and nursing home residents, we found that a decline in GS and a low baseline GS were independently associated with higher odds of dementia development within 5 years, after adjusting for potential confounders
Summary
Improving dementia screening procedures beyond simple assessment of current cognitive performance is timely given the ongoing phenomenon of population aging. Longitudinal observations of the association between changes in GS and cognition in very old people can be challenging because, in addition to their high risk of mortality, gait deficits become more likely with age, leading to the exclusion of participants who are unable to perform a GS test. It is otherwise a reasonable criterion, it cannot be readily generalized to the very old (Peel, Kuys, & Klein, 2013) given that one in five people aged 85 years and over may be unable to perform a GS test (Öhlin et al, 2020). A secondary aim was to study the association between changes in GS and cognitive function over 5 years within the same population
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