Cognitive-motor dual-task interference in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and prodromal neurodegeneration: A scoping review.
Jason K Longhurst, John V Rider, Jeffrey L Cummings and 3 others
PMID 37487365WHAT IT FOUND
Walking while doing a mental task causes bigger drops in gait and thinking speed for people with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's than for healthy adults.
This interference worsens as disease progresses, but no single test predicts it reliably yet.
Key findings
01Dual-task interference negatively impacts gait in both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, causing reduced velocity and increased variability.
02Dual-task performance discriminates between people with dementia or Parkinson's and healthy older adults, and can detect subtle deficits in prodromal stages.
03There is no consensus on the best way to measure this interference; many studies used absolute performance measures rather than comparing to single-task baselines, which biases results.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The review only included studies using gait-related motor tasks, excluding those using postural stability tasks. There was no quality appraisal of the included studies. Statistically significant findings were emphasized over non-significant ones in the reporting. Heterogeneity in dual-task paradigms and measurement metrics prevents direct comparison across studies. The review excluded studies of dementia causes other than AD and PD.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a specific dual-task test is validated for diagnosis or prognosis. The review found no consensus on best measures, and many studies used metrics that do not account for single-task baseline performance, which can bias results.