Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Shifting from Declines to Improvements: Associations between a Meaningful Walking Speed Change and Cognitive Evolution over Three Years in Older Adults

  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Background

Although the close relationship between mobility and cognitive declines is well-known, literature has very little questioned whether improvement in walking speed over time could be associated with improvements in cognitive functions. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between a clinically meaningful improvement in walking speed and global and specific cognitive changes in older adults. Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting

Multidomain Alzheimer Preventive Trial (MAPT) study.

Participants

Three-hundred participants from the control group of the MAPT study (mean age 74.8 ± 4.2; 57% women).

Measurements

The 4-m usual walking speed, global cognition, memory, executive functions, and processing speed measures were collected at baseline, and at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. Participants were categorized into three groups according to their walking speed change over the three-year study: 1/ Non-Improvers (participants not presenting an increase ≥0.05m/sec on walking speed; n=138); 2/ Improvers (increase ≥0.05m/sec; n=40); Cyclic (≥0.05m/sec improvement at some time points without maintaining it through the whole period; n=122).

Results

Adjusted mixed-effect linear regressions revealed that walking speed improvers did not significantly differ from participants who never or temporarily improved their walking speed on all of global and specific cognitive functions over three years. Nevertheless, a sensitivity analysis (excluding participants with a nonclinical walking speed improvement) indicated specific cognitive trajectories per group associated with better episodic memory scores for Improvers compared to non-improvers (β=2.41, 95% CI=.12 - 4.71; p=.039).

Conclusion

This study found that the overtime trajectories of cognitive functions did not differ as a function of clinically meaningful walking speed changes in older adults. Nevertheless, secondary analyses provided new insights on the relationship between walking speed and specific cognitive functions. The novelty of this approach (switching from declines to improvements) should be considered in future large-scale, observational longitudinal studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Table 1
Table 2
Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Best, J. R., Liu-Ambrose, T., Boudreau, R. M., Ayonayon, H. N., Satterfield, S., Simonsick, E. M.,... & Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. An evaluation of the longitudinal, bidirectional associations between gait speed and cognition in older women and men. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biomedical Sciences and Medical Sciences, 2016;71(12), 1616–1623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Yogev;Seligmann, G., Hausdorff, J. M., & Giladi, N. The role of executive function and attention in gait. Movement disorders, 2008;23(3), 329–342.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Mielke, M. M., Roberts, R. O., Savica, R., Cha, R., Drubach, D. I., Christianson, T.,...& Knopman, D. S. Assessing the temporal relationship between cognition and gait: slow gait predicts cognitive decline in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biomedical Sciences and Medical Sciences, 2012;68(8), 929–937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. MacDonald, S. W., Hundza, S., Love, J. A., DeCarlo, C. A., Halliday, D. W., Brewster, P. W.,...& Dixon, R. A. Concurrent indicators of gait velocity and variability are associated with 25-year cognitive change: a retrospective longitudinal investigation. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2017;9,17.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Quan, M., Xun, P., Chen, C., Wen, J., Wang, Y., Wang, R.,...& He, K. Walking pace and the risk of cognitive decline and dementia in elderly populations: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 2017;72(2), 266–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kikkert, L. H., Vuillerme, N., van Campen, J. P., Hortobagyi, T., & Lamoth, C. J. Walking ability to predict future cognitive decline in old adults: a scoping review. Ageing research reviews, 2016;27, 1–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Valkanova, V., & Ebmeier, K. P. What can gait tell us about dementia? Review of epidemiological and neuropsychological evidence. Gait & posture, 2017;53, 215–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Perera, S., Mody, S. H., Woodman, R. C., & Studenski, S. A. Meaningful change and responsiveness in common physical performance measures in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2006;54(5), 743–749.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Hardy, S. E., Perera, S., Roumani, Y. F., Chandler, J. M., & Studenski, S. A. Improvement in usual gait speed predicts better survival in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2007;55(11), 1727–1734.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Vellas, B., Carrie, I., Gillette-Guyonnet, S., Touchon, J., Dantoine, T., Dartigues, J. F.,...& Bories, L. MAPT study: a multidomain approach for preventing Alzheimer’s disease: design and baseline data. The journal of prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, 2014;1(1),13.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Andrieu, S., Guyonnet, S., Coley, N., Cantet, C., Bonnefoy, M., Bordes, S.,...& Desclaux, F. Effect of long-term omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation with or without multidomain intervention on cognitive function in elderly adults with memory complaints (MAPT): a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet Neurology, 2017;16(5), 377–389.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Studenski, S., Perera, S., Patel, K., Rosano, C., Faulkner, K., Inzitari, M.,...& Nevitt, M. Gait speed and survival in older adults. Jama, 2011;305(1), 50–58.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Van Kan, G. A., Rolland, Y., Andrieu, S., Bauer, J., Beauchet, O., Bonnefoy, M.,...& Nourhashemi, F. Gait speed at usual pace as a predictor of adverse outcomes in community-dwelling older people an International Academy on Nutrition and Aging (IANA) Task Force. The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 2009;13(10), 881–889.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Clouston, S. A., Brewster, P., Kuh, D., Richards, M., Cooper, R., Hardy, R.,...& Hofer, S. M. The dynamic relationship between physical function and cognition in longitudinal aging cohorts. Epidemiologic reviews, 2013;35(1), 33–50.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Glisky, E. L. Changes in cognitive function in human aging. Brain aging: Models, methods, and mechanisms, 2007;3–20.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Bohannon, R. W., & Andrews, A. W. Normal walking speed: a descriptive metaanalysis. Physiotherapy, 2011,97(3), 182–189.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Gill, T. M., Allore, H. G., Hardy, S. E., & Guo, Z. The dynamic nature of mobility disability in older persons. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2006;54(2), 248–254.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Montero-Odasso, M., Verghese, J., Beauchet, O., & Hausdorff, J. M. Gait and cognition: a complementary approach to understanding brain function and the risk of falling. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2012;60(11), 2127–2136.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gérontopôle de Toulouse, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de Toulouse (CHU Toulouse), Toulouse, France

    Kristell Pothier, P. de Souto Barreto, M. Maltais, Y. Rolland & B. Vellas

  2. UMR INSERM 1027, University of Toulouse III, Toulouse, France

    P. de Souto Barreto, Y. Rolland & B. Vellas

  3. Institut du Vieillissement, 37 allée Jules Guesde, 31000, Toulouse, France

    Kristell Pothier

Authors
  1. Kristell Pothier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. de Souto Barreto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Maltais
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Y. Rolland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. B. Vellas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Consortia

DSA MAPT Study Group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristell Pothier.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pothier, K., de Souto Barreto, P., Maltais, M. et al. Shifting from Declines to Improvements: Associations between a Meaningful Walking Speed Change and Cognitive Evolution over Three Years in Older Adults. J Nutr Health Aging 22, 1183–1188 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-018-1059-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-018-1059-8

Key words

Search

Navigation