Abhijay N Nadkarni, Kenneth J Mukamal, Xiaonan Zhu, David Siscovick, Jennifer S Brach, Mini Jacob, Sudha Seshadri, Temidayo Abe, Caterina Rosano, Luc Djousse, Andrea L Rosso
{"title":"Associations of Neurological Biomarkers in Serum With Gait Measures: The Cardiovascular Health Study.","authors":"Abhijay N Nadkarni, Kenneth J Mukamal, Xiaonan Zhu, David Siscovick, Jennifer S Brach, Mini Jacob, Sudha Seshadri, Temidayo Abe, Caterina Rosano, Luc Djousse, Andrea L Rosso","doi":"10.1093/gerona/glae043","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Gait impairment leads to increased mobility decline and may have neurological contributions. This study explores how neurological biomarkers are related to gait in older adults.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We studied participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a population-based cohort of older Americans, who underwent a serum biomarker assessment from samples collected in 1996-1997 for neurofilament light chain (NfL), glial fibrillary acidic protein, ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1, and total tau (n = 1 959, mean age = 78.0 years, 60.8% female). In a subsample (n = 380), cross-sectional associations with quantitative gait measures were explored. This subsample was assessed on a mat for gait speed, step length, double support time, step time, step length variability, and step time variability. Gait speed was also measured over a 15-ft walkway annually from 1996-1997 to 1998-1999 for longitudinal analyses. Linear regression models assessed cross-sectional associations of biomarkers with gait measures, whereas mixed effects models assessed longitudinal gait speed change from baseline to 1998-1999.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Neurofilament light chain was significantly associated with annual gait speed decline (standardized β = -0.64 m/s, 95% CI: [-1.23, -0.06]) after adjustment for demographic and health factors. Among gait mat-assessed phenotypes, NfL was also cross-sectionally associated with gait speed (β = 0.001 m/s [0.0003, 0.002]) but not with other gait measures. None of the remaining biomarkers were significantly related to gait in either longitudinal or cross-sectional analyses.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Higher NfL levels were related to greater annual gait speed decline. Gait speed decline may be related to axonal degeneration. The clinical utility of NfL should be explored.</p>","PeriodicalId":94243,"journal":{"name":"The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11005783/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glae043","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Gait impairment leads to increased mobility decline and may have neurological contributions. This study explores how neurological biomarkers are related to gait in older adults.
Methods: We studied participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a population-based cohort of older Americans, who underwent a serum biomarker assessment from samples collected in 1996-1997 for neurofilament light chain (NfL), glial fibrillary acidic protein, ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1, and total tau (n = 1 959, mean age = 78.0 years, 60.8% female). In a subsample (n = 380), cross-sectional associations with quantitative gait measures were explored. This subsample was assessed on a mat for gait speed, step length, double support time, step time, step length variability, and step time variability. Gait speed was also measured over a 15-ft walkway annually from 1996-1997 to 1998-1999 for longitudinal analyses. Linear regression models assessed cross-sectional associations of biomarkers with gait measures, whereas mixed effects models assessed longitudinal gait speed change from baseline to 1998-1999.
Results: Neurofilament light chain was significantly associated with annual gait speed decline (standardized β = -0.64 m/s, 95% CI: [-1.23, -0.06]) after adjustment for demographic and health factors. Among gait mat-assessed phenotypes, NfL was also cross-sectionally associated with gait speed (β = 0.001 m/s [0.0003, 0.002]) but not with other gait measures. None of the remaining biomarkers were significantly related to gait in either longitudinal or cross-sectional analyses.
Conclusions: Higher NfL levels were related to greater annual gait speed decline. Gait speed decline may be related to axonal degeneration. The clinical utility of NfL should be explored.