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Published on: January 29, 2016
Disability Moderates Dual Task Walking Performance and Neural Efficiency in Older Adults With Multiple Sclerosis
Manuel E Hernandez1,2,3,4, Robert W Motl5, Frederick W Foley6,7
1Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
Background:
Mobility and cognitive impairment are prevalent and co-occurring in older adults with multiple sclerosis (OAMS), yet there is limited research concerning the role of disability status in the cognitive control of gait among OAMS.
Objective:
We investigated the levels of prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation, using oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2), during cognitively-demanding tasks in OAMS with lower and higher disability using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to: (1) identify PFC activation differences in single task walk and cognitively-demanding tasks in OAMS with different levels of disability; and (2) evaluate if disability may moderate practice-related changes in neural efficiency in OAMS.
Methods:
We gathered data from OAMS with lower (n = 51, age = 65 ± 4 years) or higher disability (n = 48, age = 65 ± 5 years), using a cutoff of 3 or more, in the Patient Determined Disease Steps, for higher disability, under 3 different conditions (single-task walk, Single-Task-Alpha, and Dual-Task-Walk [DTW]) administered over 3 counterbalanced, repeated trials.
Results:
OAMS who had a lower disability level exhibited decreased PFC activation levels during Single-Task-Walk (STW) and larger increases in PFC activation levels, when going from STW to a cognitively-demanding task, such as a DTW, than those with higher disability. OAMS with a lower disability level exhibited greater declines in PFC activation levels with additional within session practice than those with a higher disability level.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that disability moderates brain adaptability to cognitively-demanding tasks and demonstrate the potential for fNIRS-derived outcome measures to complement neurorehabilitation outcomes.
