Evaluating Mobility in Advanced Dementia: A Scoping Review and Feasibility Analysis

Mobility decline is a symptom of advanced dementia that affects function, safety, caregiving, and quality of life. Monitoring mobility status is essential for initiating timely and targeted interventions aimed at preventing excess disability in people with dementia (PWD). The physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms of dementia however, present unique challenges for mobility assessment. The goals of this review were to (a) identify and describe measures of mobility used for PWD and (b) assess measures' feasibility for use in people with advanced dementia; a group whose degree of cognitive impairment results in severe functional deficits.

Electronic searches of Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and PsychInfo databases were conducted using keywords related to dementia, mobility, measurement, and validation. Descriptive characteristics were extracted and measures coded for mobility components. Tools were also evaluated for feasibility of use in advanced dementia and those deemed feasible, screened for psychometric strength.

Thirty-eight measures were included and 68% of these tools were performance-based. Elements of mobility evaluated were walking (53% of measures), postural transitions (42%), standing (40%), mobility-related behavioral/psychological symptoms (24%), transfers (10%), bed mobility (5%), and wheeled mobility (3%). 36% of studies included people with advanced dementia. Only 18% of tools received high scores for feasibility.

Existing measures provide only partial information regarding mobility and few target elements that become relevant as dementia progresses. Most measures are not feasible for people with advanced dementia, and the psychometric evaluation of these measures is limited. Further research is needed to develop a comprehensive, dementia-specific, mobility assessment tool.