Gait and dementia
Gait impairments and cognitive decline are common among older people and are the hallmarks of functional decline in advancing age. Until recently, it was thought that gait is an automated motor task with little or no reliance on cognitive function. The understanding of gait as a complex cognitive task and findings that poor gait precedes cognitive decline have led to an increasing number of studies in the field of “gait and dementia.” This chapter provides an overview of the evidence on how gait could be useful in evolving dementia science. It is divided into three main sections. The first describes gait as a marker of cognitive impairment and dementia, the second describes the ability of gait to predict future cognitive decline and dementia, and the last section describes the associations between gait and other major genetic and neuroimaging biomarkers of dementia.
History
Publication title
The Neuroscience of Dementia, Volume 1: Diagnosis and Management in DementiaEdition
1stEditors
C Martin and V PreedyPagination
95-109ISBN
978-0-12-816043-5Department/School
Menzies Institute for Medical Research, MedicinePublisher
Academic PressPublication status
- Published