Dual task walking reveals cognitive dysfunction in community-dwelling elderly subjects: the Sefuri brain MRI study

The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of subclinical brain lesions and cognitive function on gait performance with or without concurrent cognitive task in community-dwelling elderly subjects. Participants without dementia (92 men and 109 women with a mean age of 67.8 years) underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging, neuropsychologic tests, and gait measurements. Impaired gait velocity of the Timed Up and Go test was associated with deep white matter lesions (odds ratio [OR], 2.338; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.120-4.880) and diabetes mellitus (OR, 2.725; 95% CI, 1.120-6.630) after adjusted for age, sex, education, and cognitive function tests. Impaired gait velocity of dual task walking was associated with age and the score of Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (OR, .899/1 point higher; 95% CI, .813-.994), whereas deep white matter lesions were not significantly associated with dual task walking. The present study showed that gait represents not only physical functioning but also subclinical cognitive dysfunction particularly memory impairment in healthy elderly subjects.