Walking age gap linked to later cognitive impairment
Each extra year of walking-based age above actual age was associated with a 7% higher relative risk of future cognitive impairment in initially cognitively normal adults.
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Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Adults without a known gait disorder contributed 19,637 walking trials to the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, a population-based cohort in Minnesota. The 5,794 participants averaged 78 years old, and 49% were female. Researchers developed a computer model to predict age from walking measurements. They subtracted actual age from this predicted “gait age” to calculate a gait age gap.
Measures of walking stability contributed most to the age predictions. A larger gap was associated with impaired cognition and everyday functioning. Among participants who initially had normal cognition, larger gaps were also linked to a higher risk of future cognitive impairment. The gap distinguished cognitively normal and impaired participants better than walking speed did.
Why it matters
Walking and mobility often decline before cognitive impairment appears. Measuring these changes could help connect aging in the systems that control movement with future cognitive health.
Caveats
The cohort was relatively homogeneous and predominantly white. The authors said the findings need testing in more diverse populations.
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