Original StudyRethinking the Relationship Between Spatiotemporal Gait Variables and Dementia: A Prospective Study
Section snippets
Study Design
Participants were selected from a database of Japanese adults compiled by the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology–Study of Geriatric Syndromes11 to establish a screening system for geriatric diseases and to validate evidence-based interventions for treating them. Between 2011 and 2012, a total of 5104 subjects gave their consent to participate. The exclusion criteria were nonenrollment in the Japanese National Health Insurance system or Later-Stage Medical Care, a diagnosis of
Results
The analyses included 4011 participants (54% women, mean age ± standard deviation: 72.2 ± 5.6 years). During the follow-up period (mean duration ± standard deviation: 42.8 ± 6.1 months; max: 47 months), 245 participants (person-years: 14,319; 61% women, mean age 76.9 years) received a diagnosis of dementia. Table 1 compares the participants with and without incident dementia. There were significant between-group differences in age, sex, body mass index, educational history, medication use,
Discussion
The results of our study indicate a rethinking of the association between gait variables and dementia. Gait speed, stride length, and stride variability were significantly related to incident dementia among the full sample. The associations between gait variables and dementia did not differ according to sex. These results remained after adjusting for covariates, including cognitive function at baseline. Participants with incident dementia had relatively low MMSE scores at baseline, although we
Conclusions and Implications
This study revealed that gait variables were prospectively related to incident dementia, and this association did not differ according to sex. Participants with slower gait speed, shorter stride length, and higher stride variability were at a higher risk of dementia. These findings provide additional evidence and could be used to develop strategies for predicting the risk of dementia.
Acknowledgments
We thank the Obu City Office for help with participant recruitment.
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This work was supported by Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants (Comprehensive Research on Aging and Health); JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP (23300205, 18H03185, 15H05369); Research Funding for Longevity Sciences (22-16) from the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. The funder and sponsors had no role in the study design, analysis, or interpretation of data or in the writing of the report and decision to submit this article for publication.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Conflicts of Interest: None declared.