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Individual and combined effects of a cognitive task, light finger touch, and vision on standing balance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment

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Abstract

Background

Postural instability and balance dysfunction have been identified in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Performing a secondary task while standing can additionally jeopardize their balance.

Aims

The purpose of the exploratory study was to investigate the individual and combined effects of a cognitive task, light finger touch and vision on postural sway in older adults with MCI as compared to healthy older adults.

Methods

Five individuals with MCI and ten age-matched control subjects stood on the force platform with and without the performance of a cognitive task (counting backward from a randomly chosen three-digit number), with and without light finger touch contact applied to an external stable structure, and with eyes open or closed. The center of pressure (COP) excursion, range, velocity in antero-posterior and medial–lateral directions and sway area were calculated.

Results

Participants demonstrated significantly larger postural sway when vision was not available (p < 0.05), smaller postural sway when using a finger touch contact (p < 0.05) and increased postural sway during the performance of the cognitive task (p < 0.05). When finger touch and a cognitive task were performed simultaneously, body sway decreased as compared to just standing in healthy older adults but not in individuals with MCI (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

The results help to better understand the individual and combined effects of vision, light touch and a cognitive task in postural control of individuals with MCI. The study outcome also provides a basis for future studies of balance control in patients with cognitive impairments.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the study participants for their exceptional cooperation. We also thank Etem Curuk for help in data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Therapy (MC 898), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1919 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Nikita Goyal & Alexander S. Aruin

  2. School of Engineering and Department of Physical Therapy, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI, USA

    Yunju Lee

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Geraldine Luna

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  1. Nikita Goyal
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  2. Yunju Lee
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  3. Geraldine Luna
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  4. Alexander S. Aruin
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Correspondence to Alexander S. Aruin.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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The project was approved by the University of Illinois at Chicago Institutional Review Board. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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All participants provided written informed consent before taking part in the experimental procedures.

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Goyal, N., Lee, Y., Luna, G. et al. Individual and combined effects of a cognitive task, light finger touch, and vision on standing balance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Aging Clin Exp Res 32, 797–807 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-019-01262-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-019-01262-y

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