Seniors with cognitive decline whose walking speed slows over time are more likely to develop dementia, a new study finds.
The investigation included relatively healthy participants aged 65 years and older. Researchers examined declines in four different cognitive measures, including global cognition, memory, processing speed and verbal fluency. Gait speed was measured regularly between 2010 and 2017.
The combination of declining gait speed and memory loss was the most strongly associated with dementia risk. Overall, study participants whose cognitive abilities and gait speed were both diminishing had a more than 20-fold increase in dementia risk when compared to their peers who experienced loss of only one ability, reported Taya A. Collyer, Ph.D., of Monash University in Australia.
Dementia is believed to progress for up to 30 years before a diagnosis. Gait speed could help to assess risk early in the disease course to allow for preventive measures, the authors said.
“It is important that at-risk individuals are identified so that modifiable risk factors are addressed and available interventions provided,” Collyer and colleagues concluded.
Full findings were published in JAMA Network Open.
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