{"title":"Perturbation-based balance assessment: Examining reactive balance control in older adults with mild cognitive impairments.","authors":"Lakshmi N Kannan, Tanvi S Bhatt","doi":"10.1556/2060.2021.00181","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (OAwMCI) present subtle balance and gait deficits along with subjective memory decline. Although these presentations might not affect activities of daily living (ADLs), they attribute to a two-folded increase in falls. While changes occurring in volitional balance control during ADLs have been extensively examined among OAwMCI, reactive balance control, required to recover from external perturbations, has received little attention. Therefore, this study examined reactive balance control in OAwMCI compared to their healthy counterparts.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Fifteen older adults with mild cognitive impairment (OAwMCI), fifteen cognitively intact older adults (CIOA) (>55 years), and fifteen young adults (18-30 years) were exposed to stance perturbations at three different intensities. Behavioral outcomes postural COM state stability, step length, step initiation, and step execution were computed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Postural COM state stability was the lowest in OAwMCI compared to CIOA and young adults, and it deteriorated at higher perturbation intensities (P < 0.001). Step length was the lowest among OAwMCI and was significantly different from young adults (P < 0.001) but not from CIOA. Unlike OAwMCI, CIOA and young adults increased their step length at higher perturbation intensities (P < 0.001). OAwMCI showed longer recovery step initiation times and shorter execution times compared to CIOA and young adults at higher perturbation intensities (P < 0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>OAwMCI exhibit exacerbated reactive instability and are unable to modulate their responses as the threat to balance control altered. Thus, they are at a significantly higher risk of falls than their healthy counterparts.</p>","PeriodicalId":20058,"journal":{"name":"Physiology international","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Physiology international","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2060.2021.00181","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PHYSIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Background: Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (OAwMCI) present subtle balance and gait deficits along with subjective memory decline. Although these presentations might not affect activities of daily living (ADLs), they attribute to a two-folded increase in falls. While changes occurring in volitional balance control during ADLs have been extensively examined among OAwMCI, reactive balance control, required to recover from external perturbations, has received little attention. Therefore, this study examined reactive balance control in OAwMCI compared to their healthy counterparts.
Methods: Fifteen older adults with mild cognitive impairment (OAwMCI), fifteen cognitively intact older adults (CIOA) (>55 years), and fifteen young adults (18-30 years) were exposed to stance perturbations at three different intensities. Behavioral outcomes postural COM state stability, step length, step initiation, and step execution were computed.
Results: Postural COM state stability was the lowest in OAwMCI compared to CIOA and young adults, and it deteriorated at higher perturbation intensities (P < 0.001). Step length was the lowest among OAwMCI and was significantly different from young adults (P < 0.001) but not from CIOA. Unlike OAwMCI, CIOA and young adults increased their step length at higher perturbation intensities (P < 0.001). OAwMCI showed longer recovery step initiation times and shorter execution times compared to CIOA and young adults at higher perturbation intensities (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: OAwMCI exhibit exacerbated reactive instability and are unable to modulate their responses as the threat to balance control altered. Thus, they are at a significantly higher risk of falls than their healthy counterparts.
期刊介绍:
The journal provides a forum for important new research papers written by eminent scientists on experimental medical sciences. Papers reporting on both original work and review articles in the fields of basic and clinical physiology, pathophysiology (from the subcellular organization level up to the oranizmic one), as well as related disciplines, including history of physiological sciences, are accepted.