Motor alterations associated with cognitive impairment in a third‐level hospital

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundCognition and motor function declines have been shown to precede cognitive impairments, and motor changes have been proposed as potential clinical biomarkers to help predict dementia syndromes; there are reports that gait speed declined a decade before the diagnosis of MCI and preceded declines in cognitive function tests. The slow gait speed associated with cognitive complaint, motor cognitive risk syndrome is a clinical biomarker for high risk of neurologic degeneration.MethodThis report is a secondary analysis from a transversal study, the inclusion criteria include adults from 60 or older, who complete evaluations at the baseline in a from a dementia clinic at a tertiary care center in Mexico. Gait performance were evaluated in all the participants which had to walk 10 meter distance and timed, slow gait were considered as those more than 1 meter/second. Variables such as sex, age, education, marital status, occupation, depression, anxiety, frailty, cognitive impairments and geriatric syndromes were considered for the analysis. The outcome was the description of the characteristics of gait disturbance in the follow‐up evaluation and their relationships with the variables discussed.ResultFinally, 222 patients were studied, highlighting a prevalence of 73% (n = 158) being female and 28% (n = 64) being male. A total of 72% (n = 160) of patients presented a speed <1m/s and 28% (n = 62) with a speed >1m/s. Polypharmacy, intestinal habit disorder, sensory deprivation, and housewife occupation were associated with a decrease in gait speed. The group with mild cognitive impairment, 32% (n = 72), predominantly had a gait speed of less than 1 m/s. Regarding functionality, we found that the moderate dependence group, 31% (n = 71), and pre‐frail patients, 32% (n = 72), had a greater association with a decrease in gait speed. A significant association was found between MMSE and gait speed (p = 0.003).ConclusionIt was found that female patients have a prevalence of slow walking speed <1m/sec. In addition, patients with mild cognitive impairment have a higher prevalence, which suggests that walking speed may be a prodromal sign for mild cognitive impairment. Only was significative sex, polypharmacy, and fraility.