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Brain white-matter changes in the elderly prone to falling.

J C Masdeu¹, L Wolfson, G Lantos

¹Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.

Archives of Neurology

|December 1, 1989

Summary

Falls in the elderly are often linked to impaired gait and balance. This study found that white-matter disease, visible on brain scans, is associated with these impairments and increased fall risk in older adults.

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Area of Science:

Gerontology
Neurology
Biomedical Engineering

Background:

Falls and gait impairment are significant causes of morbidity in the elderly population.
The underlying reasons for increased fall risk in some older adults remain unclear.
Existing research often overlooks the connection between subclinical brain changes and fall propensity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between gait, equilibrium, and white-matter changes in elderly fallers versus non-fallers.
To determine if white-matter hypodensity on computed tomography (CT) is associated with impaired gait and balance in older adults.
To explore the correlation between white-matter disease, cognitive function, and fall risk.

Main Methods:

Comparative analysis of gait and equilibrium in 40 elderly subjects (20 fallers, 20 controls).

Related Experiment Videos

Assessment of white-matter hypodensity using brain computed tomography (CT) scans.

Correlation analysis between CT findings, gait/equilibrium scores, and cognitive test performance.

Main Results:

Fallers exhibited significantly poorer gait and equilibrium scores compared to controls.
A greater degree of white-matter hypodensity was observed in the faller group.
White-matter hypodensity strongly correlated with impaired gait and equilibrium, but not with cognitive deficits.

Conclusions:

White-matter disease is significantly associated with gait and balance impairments in the elderly.
These impairments, linked to white-matter changes, contribute to an increased risk of falls in older adults.
Brain imaging, specifically CT, can help identify individuals at higher risk for falls due to white-matter disease.