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Abstract
Slowing gait is seen as an early marker of cognitive decline and dementia. However, very few studies have taken into account the competing risk of death when looking at associations between gait speed and cognitive decline. In the current study we investigate whether slow gait speed predicts transitions between cognitive states (normal Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), mild MMSE impairment, and severe MMSE impairment) and death, using data from four longitudinal studies on aging. We used a coordinated analysis where the same multi-state model was fitted in each dataset. Data were used from H70 (Sweden), LASA (the Netherlands), MAP (US) and OCTO Twin (Sweden). Results indicate that slow gait predicts transitions from a healthy state or mild MMSE impairment to death. No effects of slow gait speed on transitions into cognitive impairment were found.
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1 VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
2 VU Medical Centre Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3 Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
4 Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
5 Department of Statistical Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom
6 Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada; Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
7 Centre for Dementia Prevention, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom