Follow this blog:
RSS

Detecting Alzheimer’s in the way you walk

By | July 22, 2012, 7:28 PM PDT

You can learn so much about a person’s mind by watching his or her feet.

Okay, so, we actually mean a person’s gait — and new research shows that it can be used in early detection of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s.

The signs that there’s a problem with cognitive function? A walk that’s slower, less controlled or more variable.

These conclusions, based on five studies presented this month at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Vancouver, represent a shift in thinking about the relation between cognition and walking.

“People who are focused on cognition largely never watch people move,” Dr. Stephanie Studenski, an expert on walking who was not involved in the dementia studies, told The New York Times. “The tests are all done sitting down. But damage to the [nervous system] is an important shared problem of difficulty with thinking and difficulty with moving.”

Previously, scientists would study walking after a heart attack, stroke or the onset of diseases like Parkinson’s. They also thought that slower walking with age was just a fact of life, but the new research shows that some gait changes are due to problems beyond aging.

The studies

The studies differed from previous research in being larger, more detailed and more sophisticated in their measurement of gait. For instance, they used an electronic walkway that used sensors to measure minute changes in walking speed, step frequency, the stride width and its variability. They screened out subjects who had arthritis or other physical problems.

Basel, Switzerland

In one study of 1,100 of the elderly in Basel, Switzerland, participants walked down the walkway once and then walked down it a second time while simultaneously engaged in mental activity: either naming animals or counting every other number backward from 50.

While one 72-year-old woman was able to traverse the walkway easily in the first test, in the second test, she wobbled on her feet and even almost tipped to the side. The researchers then tested her cognitive abilities and found minor impairment.

When people try to perform thinking and movement tasks simultaneously, the researchers were able to see “deficits that you can’t see with the naked eye,” Dr. Stephanie Bridenbaugh, head of the Basel Mobility Center, told The Times. “A lot of times normal walking looked normal, even in people with moderate Alzheimer’s, but if you look at dual tasking, I can detect these problems.”

The Times reports:

Her research consistently showed that people who walked more slowly or inconsistently did worse on cognitive tests; the worst walkers had the most severe Alzheimer’s.

Mayo Clinic

A Mayo Clinic study of more than 1,300 subjects without dementia evaluated their gait and cognitive abilities twice, 15 months apart. It found that people who walked a meter slower per second on the second test scored a half point lower on the cognitive tests.

Rotterdam

At Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the researchers asked more than 1,200 people who had no signs of dementia to do three things: “to walk normally, to walk and turn around halfway through, and to “tandem walk,” in which the heel of one foot is placed directly in front of the toe of the previous foot,” reports The Times. They also then underwent cognitive testing to see which types of walking problems were associated with which types of cognitive decline.

People who had trouble with the tandem walking showed problems with fine motor skills. People who made fewer steps per minute had problems with tests of thinking speed. And  people who had variable gaits and walked slowly had poor executive function. None of the walking symptoms correlated with memory problems.

Next steps

The studies raise the question that physical activity could forestall dementia. They also indicate that walking can be used in screening and should become part of routine checkups, just the way doctors listen to a patient’s heart.

Related on SmartPlanet:

via: The New York Times

photo: pedrosimoes7/Flickr

Start your week smarter with our weekly e-mail newsletter. It's your cheat sheet for good ideas. Get it.

Laura Shin

About Laura Shin

Laura Shin is a contributing editor for SmartPlanet.

Laura Shin

Laura Shin

Contributing Editor

Laura Shin has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, and is currently a contributor at Forbes. Previously, she worked at Newsweek, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and LearnVest. She holds degrees from Stanford University and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Follow her on Twitter.

Laura Shin

Laura Shin

In the unlikely event that Laura has a professional or financial relationship with a company she writes about, it will be prominently disclosed.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

If you liked this, don't miss...
2
Comments

Join the conversation!

Follow via:
RSS
-4 Votes
+ -
Easy methods to defend a person's footwear?
Having the introduction of society, increasingly more youthful folks similar to shopping for one thing based on your popular brand name, including Adidas, Nike and the like. On the other hand, are you aware of which easy methods to defend a person's footwear via harmful.
These days, bdmshops lets you know plenty of ideas to help to make a person's footwear clear and billige fotballsko clear. We strongly trust the following tips may help you plenty.
Posted by finelycheng
23rd Jul
-5 Votes
+ -
There are lots of recompense pertaining to people that will don sports acti
Your proper sneakers is important adjective to the foot or so relaxation. Due to this fact, the choice of any acceptable custom plus proper sneakers might have majestic call with your health and fitness that you saw. However, show style important is the option belonging to the appropriate style of appropriate sneakers pertaining to inflationary desire anybody can position [url=http://www.footballshoesjapan.com/]
Posted by finelycheng
23rd Jul
Join the conversation
Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

Join the SmartPlanet community and join the conversation! Signing up is fast and free. Don't wait -- we want to hear your opinion!