Effects of Cognitive Dysfunction and Dual Task on Gait Speed and Prefrontal Cortex Activation in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

ABSTRACT

We aimed to determine how prefrontal cortex activation and gait speed during walking is affected by cognitive dysfunction and dual-tasking. Eleven and 14 participants were included in the MOCA-J (Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment score) < 26  (age, 76.0 ± 5.7 years; sex, six men and five women) and the MOCA-J ≥ 26 groups (age 73.9 ± 4.3 years; sex, seven men and seven women), respectively. We measured prefrontal cortex oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) levels (using Pocket NIRS HM), and gait speed during normal and dual-task walking (a letter fluency task was added). The oxy-Hb levels were significantly lower in the MOCA-J < 26 group than in the MOCA-J ≥ 26 group during dual-task walking. The gait speed was significantly lower during dual-task walking, compared with normal walking, in the MOCA-J < 26group.These results may have been influenced by the compensatory mechanisms in the frontal lobe.

KEYWORDS:

• Dementia
• mild cognitive impairment
• near infrared spectroscopy
• frontal assessment battery
• montreal cognitive assessment
• dual-task

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

None