Canadian researchers are the first to study how different patterns in the way older people walk can more accurately diagnose different types of dementia and identify Alzheimer’s disease.
A new study by a Canadian research team, led by London researchers from the Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University, assessed the walking patterns and brain function of 500 participants currently enrolled in clinical trials. Their findings were published today in Alzheimer’s and dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
“We have long-standing evidence showing that cognitive problems, such as poor memory and executive dysfunction, can be predictors of dementia. Now, we are seeing that motor performance, specifically the way you walk, can help diagnose different types of neurodegenerative conditions.” says Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso, a scientist at Lawson and a professor at the Western Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Dr. Montero-Odasso is known for his research on the relationship between mobility and cognitive decline in aging. Leading the Mobility, Exercise and Cognition (MEC) team in London, he is the pioneer in new diagnostic approaches and treatments to prevent and combat early dementia.
This study compared gait impairments across the cognitive spectrum, including people with subjective cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia, as well as cognitively healthy controls.
Four independent gait patterns were identified: rhythm, rhythm, variability and postural control. Only high variability in gait was associated with poor cognitive performance and identified Alzheimer’s disease with 70 percent accuracy. Gait variability means the step-by-step fluctuations in distance and time that occur when walking.
“This is the first strong evidence that shows that gait variability is an important marker for processes that happen in areas of the brain that are linked to cognitive impairment and motor control,” notes Dr. Frederico Perruccini-Faria, Research Assistant in Lawson and Postdoctoral Associate at Western Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, who is the first author of the article. “We have shown that high gait variability as a marker of this cognitive cortical dysfunction can safely identify Alzheimer’s disease compared to other neurodegenerative diseases.”
When cognitive cortical dysfunction is happening, a person’s ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time is affected, such as talking while walking or chopping vegetables while talking to the family.
Having gait variability as a motor marker for cognitive decline and different types of conditions can allow gait assessment to be used as a clinical test, for example, making patients use wearable technology. “We see gait variability being similar to an arrhythmia. Health professionals could measure it with patients in the clinic, similar to how we assess cardiac rhythm with electrocardiograms,” adds Dr. Montero-Odasso.
This study was funded mainly by the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), a collaborative research program that addresses the challenge of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. The CCNA was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
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