Association between walking energy utilisation and longitudinal cognitive performance in older adults

Human motor function is optimised for energetic efficiency, however, age-related neurodegenerative changes affects neuromotor control of walking. Energy utilisation has been associated with motor performance, but its association with cognitive performance is unknown. The study population included 97...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Age and ageing 2022-12, Vol.51 (12)
Main Authors: Kuo, Pei-Lun, An, Yang, Gross, Alden L, Tian, Qu, Zipunnikov, Vadim, Spira, Adam P, Wanigatunga, Amal A, Simonsick, Eleanor M, Ferrucci, Luigi, Resnick, Susan M, Schrack, Jennifer A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aging
Cognition
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Research Paper
Walking
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Human motor function is optimised for energetic efficiency, however, age-related neurodegenerative changes affects neuromotor control of walking. Energy utilisation has been associated with motor performance, but its association with cognitive performance is unknown. The study population included 979 Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants aged $\ge$50 years (52% female, mean age: 70$\pm$10.2 years) with a median follow-up time of 4.7 years. Energy utilisation for walking was operationalised as a ratio of the energy cost of slow walking to peak walking energy expenditure during standardised tasks ('cost-ratio'). Cognitive functioning was measured using the Trail Making Tests, California Verbal Learning Test, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), letter and category fluency and card rotation tests. Linear mixed models adjusted for demographics, education and co-morbidities assessed the association between baseline cost-ratio and cognitive functioning, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. To investigate the relationship among those with less efficient energy utilisation, subgroup analyses were performed. In fully adjusted models, a higher cost-ratio was cross-sectionally associated with poorer performance on all cognitive tests except WAIS (P 
ISSN:0002-0729
1468-2834
DOI:10.1093/ageing/afac240