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Falls, cognitive impairment, and gait performance: results from the GOOD Initiative
Design: Multicenter cross-sectional study.
Setting: "Gait, cOgnitiOn & Decline" (GOOD) initiative.
Participants: A total of 2496 older adults (76.6 ± 7.6 years; 55.0% women) were included in this study (1161 cognitively healthy individuals [CHI], 529 patients with mild cognitive impairment [MCI], 456 patients with mild dementia, and 350 with moderate dementia) from 7 countries.
Measurements: Falls history was collected retrospectively at baseline in each study. Gait speed and stride time variability were recorded at usual walking pace with the GAITRite system.
Results: The prevalence of individuals who fall was 50% in AD and 64% in non-AD; whereas it was 25% in CHIs. Only mild and moderate non-AD dementia were associated with an increased risk for falls in comparison with CHI. Higher stride time variability was associated with falls in older adults without dementia (CHI and each MCI subgroup) and mild non-AD dementia, whereas lower gait speed was associated with falls in all participant groups, except in mild AD dementia. When gait speed was adjusted for, higher stride time variability was associated with falls only in CHIs (odds ratio 1.14; P = .012), but not in MCI or in patients with dementia.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that non-AD, but not AD dementia, is associated with increased falls in comparison with CHIs. The association between gait parameters and falls also differs across cognitive status, suggesting different mechanisms leading to falls in older individuals with dementia in comparison with CHIs who fall.
History
Publication title
Journal of The American Medical Directors AssociationVolume
18Issue
4Pagination
335-340ISSN
1525-8610Department/School
Menzies Institute for Medical ResearchPublisher
Elsevier Inc.Place of publication
United StatesRights statement
Copyright 2016 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.Repository Status
- Restricted