Bimanual motor impairments in older adults: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis

This updated systematic review and meta-analysis further examined potential effects of aging on bimanual movements. Forty-seven qualified studies that compared bimanual motor performances between elderly and younger adults were included in this meta-analysis. Moderator variable analyses additionally determined whether altered bimanual motor performances in older adults were different based on the task types (i.e., symmetry vs. asymmetry vs. complex) or outcome measures (i.e., accuracy vs. variability vs. movement time). The random effects model meta-analysis on 80 comparisons from 47 included studies revealed significant negative overall effects indicating more bimanual movement impairments in the elderly adults than younger adults. Moderator variable analyses found that older adults showed more deficits in asymmetrical bimanual movement tasks than symmetrical and complex tasks, and the bimanual movement impairments in the elderly adults included less accurate, more variable, and greater movement execution time than younger adults. These findings suggest that rehabilitation programs for improving motor actions in older adults are necessary to focus on functional recovery of interlimb motor control including advanced motor performances as well coordination.