Title |
Associations between Mobility, Cognition, and Brain Structure in Healthy Older Adults
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Published in |
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, May 2017
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DOI | 10.3389/fnagi.2017.00155 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Naiara Demnitz, Enikő Zsoldos, Abda Mahmood, Clare E. Mackay, Mika Kivimäki, Archana Singh-Manoux, Helen Dawes, Heidi Johansen-Berg, Klaus P. Ebmeier, Claire E. Sexton |
Abstract |
Mobility limitations lead to a cascade of adverse events in old age, yet the neural and cognitive correlates of mobility performance in older adults remain poorly understood. In a sample of 387 adults (mean age 69.0 ± 5.1 years), we tested the relationship between mobility measures, cognitive assessments, and MRI markers of brain structure. Mobility was assessed in 2007-2009, using gait, balance and chair-stands tests. In 2012-2015, cognitive testing assessed executive function, memory and processing-speed; gray matter volumes (GMV) were examined using voxel-based morphometry, and white matter microstructure was assessed using tract-based spatial statistics of fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD). All mobility measures were positively associated with processing-speed. Faster walking speed was also correlated with higher executive function, while memory was not associated with any mobility measure. Increased GMV within the cerebellum, basal ganglia, post-central gyrus, and superior parietal lobe was associated with better mobility. In addition, better performance on the chair-stands test was correlated with decreased RD and AD. Overall, our results indicate that, even in non-clinical populations, mobility measures can be sensitive to sub-clinical variance in cognition and brain structures. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United Kingdom | 11 | 27% |
Canada | 5 | 12% |
Spain | 2 | 5% |
United States | 2 | 5% |
Germany | 2 | 5% |
France | 2 | 5% |
Australia | 2 | 5% |
Pakistan | 1 | 2% |
Switzerland | 1 | 2% |
Other | 3 | 7% |
Unknown | 10 | 24% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 23 | 56% |
Scientists | 11 | 27% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 5 | 12% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 2% |
Unknown | 1 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Finland | 1 | <1% |
United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 148 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 30 | 20% |
Researcher | 21 | 14% |
Student > Master | 18 | 12% |
Student > Bachelor | 12 | 8% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 9 | 6% |
Other | 18 | 12% |
Unknown | 42 | 28% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Neuroscience | 27 | 18% |
Psychology | 23 | 15% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 15 | 10% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 11 | 7% |
Sports and Recreations | 7 | 5% |
Other | 16 | 11% |
Unknown | 51 | 34% |