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Higher Gait Variability is Associated with Decreased Parietal Gray Matter Volume Among Healthy Older Adults

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Abstract

The objectives of this study were to examine the association of stride time variability (STV) with gray and white matter volumes in healthy older adults, and to determine the specific location of any parenchymal loss associated with higher STV. A total of 71 participants (mean age 69.0 ± 0.8 years; 59.7 % female) were included in this study. All participants had a 1.0 Tesla 3D T1-weighted MRI of the brain to measure gray and white matter volumes. STV was measured at steady-state self-selected walking speed using an electronic footswitch system. We found an association between higher STV and lower gray matter volume in the right parietal lobe (e.g., angular gyrus, Brodmann area 39, cluster corrected pFWE = 0.035). There were no significant associations between STV and higher gray matter volume or change in white matter volume. To the best of our knowledge this study is the first to identify a significant association of higher STV with lower right parietal gray matter volume in healthy older adults.

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Acknowledgments

The PROOF study group would like to thank all persons who took part in this study. This study was supported by a Grant from the French Minister of Health (Cellule Projet Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique National, Direction interrégionale de la Recherche Clinique, CHU Saint-Etienne; Appel d’Offre 1998 and Appel d’Offre 2002), by Associations SYNAPSE and ONDAINE.

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Division of Geriatric Medicine, UPRES EA 4638, UNAM, Angers University Hospital, 49933, Angers Cedex 9, France

    Olivier Beauchet & Cédric Annweiler

  2. Center for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Department of Medical Biophysics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Cédric Annweiler & Robert Bartha

  3. Service de Physiologie Clinique et de l’Exercice, CHU, Saint-Etienne, France

    Sébastien Celle, Jean-Claude Barthélémy & Frédéric Roche

  4. EA 4607 “SNA EPIS”, Faculté de Médecine Jacque Lisfranc, UJM, Saint-Etienne, France

    Sébastien Celle, Jean-Claude Barthélémy & Frédéric Roche

  5. PRES Université de Lyon, 42023, Saint-Etienne, France

    Sébastien Celle, Jean-Claude Barthélémy & Frédéric Roche

Authors
  1. Olivier Beauchet
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  2. Cédric Annweiler
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  3. Sébastien Celle
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  4. Robert Bartha
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  5. Jean-Claude Barthélémy
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  6. Frédéric Roche
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Correspondence to Olivier Beauchet.

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Authors’ contribution

Beauchet has full access to all of the data in the study, takes responsibility for the data, the analyses and interpretation and has the right to publish any and all data, separate and apart from the attitudes of the sponsor. All authors meet all of the following criteria: (1) contributing to the conception and design, or analyzing and interpreting data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) approving the final version to be published.

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Beauchet, O., Annweiler, C., Celle, S. et al. Higher Gait Variability is Associated with Decreased Parietal Gray Matter Volume Among Healthy Older Adults. Brain Topogr 27, 293–295 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-013-0293-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-013-0293-y

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