Dual-Task Gait Assessment in a Clinical Sample: Implications for Improved Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objectives: Research has longitudinally linked dual-task gait dysfunction to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia risk. Our group previously demonstrated that dual-task gait speed assessment distinguished between subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) and MCI in a memory clinic setting, and also found that differences in dual-task gait speed were largely attributable to executive attention processes. This study aimed to reproduce these findings in a larger diverse sample and to extend them by examining whether there were group differences in single- versus dual-task cognitive performance (number of letters correctly sequenced backward).

Method: Two-hundred fifty-two patients (M age = 66.01 years, SD = 10.46; 119 MCI, 133 SCC) presenting with cognitive complaints in an academic medical setting underwent comprehensive neuropsychological and gait assessment (single- and dual-task conditions).

Results: Patients with MCI walked slower and showed greater decrement in cognitive performance than those with SCC during dual-task conditions. Neuropsychological measures of executive attention accounted for significant variance in dual-task gait performance across diagnostic groups beyond demographic and health risk factors.

Discussion: Reproduction of our results within a sample over four times the previous size provides support for the use of dual-task gait assessment as a marker of MCI risk in clinical settings.