Limbic and Basal Ganglia Neuroanatomical Correlates of Gait and Executive Function: Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Intact Cognition.
Ellen L McGough, Valerie E Kelly, Kurt E Weaver and 5 others
PMID 29261535WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults with mild cognitive impairment walked significantly slower with shorter strides only during fast-paced walking, not usual walking.
Larger hippocampal and anterior cingulate brain volumes correlated with both better stride length and executive function, suggesting a shared neural basis.
Key findings
01During fast-paced walking, older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) demonstrated significantly slower gait speed and shorter stride length compared with those with normal cognition (NC), but no significant differences were found during usual-paced walking.
02Larger hippocampal and anterior cingulate volumes were moderately correlated with longer stride length and better executive function performance across the whole group, after adjusting for age.
03Brain volumetric measures of the limbic or basal ganglia structures did not differ significantly between the aMCI and NC groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design prevents determining whether brain changes cause gait and cognitive decline or if they occur together due to a third factor. The sample size was small (46 participants), which may have limited the ability to detect significant differences in usual-paced walking. Participants were highly educated community-dwelling adults without dementia, so findings may not apply to more impaired or institutionalized populations.
Declared interests
Financial disclosure statements have been obtained, and no conflicts of interest have been reported by the authors or by any individuals in control of the content of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that brain volume differences explain the gait deficits in mild cognitive impairment. The study found no significant difference in limbic or basal ganglia volumes between the aMCI and NC groups, meaning the observed gait changes were not linked to overall atrophy in these regions in this sample.