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The Effect of Age on Gait Speed When Texting

Texting while walking exerts a high cognitive load, and may be a sensitive test of the integrity of the cognitive–motor interface. We aimed to investigate the association between chronological age and gait speed while texting. A convenience sample of 308 community-dwellers was recruited: n ≥ 50 in e...

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Autores principales: Alapatt, Linson J., Peel, Nancye M., Reid, Natasha, Gray, Leonard C., Hubbard, Ruth E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7014418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31963409
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020599
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author Alapatt, Linson J.
Peel, Nancye M.
Reid, Natasha
Gray, Leonard C.
Hubbard, Ruth E.
author_facet Alapatt, Linson J.
Peel, Nancye M.
Reid, Natasha
Gray, Leonard C.
Hubbard, Ruth E.
author_sort Alapatt, Linson J.
collection PubMed
description Texting while walking exerts a high cognitive load, and may be a sensitive test of the integrity of the cognitive–motor interface. We aimed to investigate the association between chronological age and gait speed while texting. A convenience sample of 308 community-dwellers was recruited: n ≥ 50 in each age group (20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59) and n = 100 aged ≥60 years. Gait speed was measured over 10 metres under two experimental conditions: 1) walking at usual pace; 2) walking at usual pace while texting the message “Good morning Harry” on their smartphone. Both median gait speed with and without texting decreased with increasing age (p < 0.001). The differences between single- and dual-task gait speed were substantial for each age group and increased after the age of 50 years (p < 0.001). Median gait speeds while texting in people aged 50–59 (1.07 m/s) and ≥60 years (1.00 m/s) were below the recommended minimum for safely crossing roads (1.20 m/s). Texting while walking currently exposes people aged 50 and over to considerable environmental hazards. The significant slowing of gait speed while texting from middle age may be a marker of neurodegeneration, a cohort effect, or an appropriate compensatory response to reduce the risk of injury.
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spelling pubmed-70144182020-03-09 The Effect of Age on Gait Speed When Texting Alapatt, Linson J. Peel, Nancye M. Reid, Natasha Gray, Leonard C. Hubbard, Ruth E. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Texting while walking exerts a high cognitive load, and may be a sensitive test of the integrity of the cognitive–motor interface. We aimed to investigate the association between chronological age and gait speed while texting. A convenience sample of 308 community-dwellers was recruited: n ≥ 50 in each age group (20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59) and n = 100 aged ≥60 years. Gait speed was measured over 10 metres under two experimental conditions: 1) walking at usual pace; 2) walking at usual pace while texting the message “Good morning Harry” on their smartphone. Both median gait speed with and without texting decreased with increasing age (p < 0.001). The differences between single- and dual-task gait speed were substantial for each age group and increased after the age of 50 years (p < 0.001). Median gait speeds while texting in people aged 50–59 (1.07 m/s) and ≥60 years (1.00 m/s) were below the recommended minimum for safely crossing roads (1.20 m/s). Texting while walking currently exposes people aged 50 and over to considerable environmental hazards. The significant slowing of gait speed while texting from middle age may be a marker of neurodegeneration, a cohort effect, or an appropriate compensatory response to reduce the risk of injury. MDPI 2020-01-17 2020-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7014418/ /pubmed/31963409 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020599 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Alapatt, Linson J.
Peel, Nancye M.
Reid, Natasha
Gray, Leonard C.
Hubbard, Ruth E.
The Effect of Age on Gait Speed When Texting
title The Effect of Age on Gait Speed When Texting
title_full The Effect of Age on Gait Speed When Texting
title_fullStr The Effect of Age on Gait Speed When Texting
title_full_unstemmed The Effect of Age on Gait Speed When Texting
title_short The Effect of Age on Gait Speed When Texting
title_sort effect of age on gait speed when texting
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7014418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31963409
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020599
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