Relationship between Cognitive Decline and Daily Life Gait among Elderly People Living in the Community: A Preliminary Report

INTRODUCTION: Early detection and intervention are important to prevent dementia. Gait parameters have been recognized as a potentially easy screening tool for mild cognitive impairment (MCI); however, differences in gait parameters between cognitive healthy individuals (CHI) and MCI are small. Daily life gait change may be used to detect cognitive decline earlier. In the present study, we aimed to clarify the relationship between cognitive decline and daily life gait. METHODS: We performed 5-Cog function tests and daily life and laboratory-based gait assessments on 155 community-dwelling elderly people (75.5 ± 5.4 years old). Daily life gait was measured for 6 days using an iPod-touch with an accelerometer. Laboratory-based 10-m gait (fast pace) was measured using an electronic portable walkway. RESULTS: The subjects consisted of 98 CHI (63.2%) and 57 cognitive decline individuals (CDI; 36.8%). Daily life maximum gait velocity in the CDI group (113.7 [97.0–128.5] cm/s) was significantly slower than that in the CHI group (121.2 [105.8–134.3] cm/s) (p = 0.032). In the laboratory-based gait, the stride length variability in the CDI group (2.6 [1.8–4.1]) was significantly higher than that in the CHI group (1.8 [1.2–2.7]) (p < 0.001). The maximum gait velocity in daily life gait was weakly but significantly correlated with stride length variability in laboratory-based gait (ρ = −0.260, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: We found an association between cognitive decline and slower daily life gait velocity among community-dwelling elderly people.