Cortical Thickness Linked to Independent Gait Domains in Older Adults

Researchers discovered an independent association between poorer pace and thinner cortical thickness in areas important for cognitive function, sensory, motor, and visuospatial attention.

While the prevalence of gait disturbance is increasing among older adults, study authors examined whether the associations of different gait domains and cortical thickness could be explained by cerebral small vessel disease.

The Taizhou Imaging Study utilized 707 community-dwelling participants with a mean age of 60.2 ± 3.0 years and 57.4% were female, and all participants underwent gait and brain MRI assessments.

Wearable devices were used to obtain quantitative gait parameters and researchers summarized results into 3 independent gait domains: pace, rhythm, and variability, through factor analysis. Surfstat and FreeSurfer were used to analyze and visualize cortical thickness.

“Among gait domains, poorer pace was associated with the thinner cortical thickness of multiple regions,” wrote researchers. “Which included areas related with motor function (eg, the primary motor cortex, premotor cortex, and supplementary motor area), sensory function (eg, the postcentral gyrus and paracentral lobule), visuospatial attention (eg, the lateral occipital cortex and lingual gyrus), and identification and cognition (eg, the fusiform gyrus and entorhinal cortex).”

A significant association was not found between the rhythm or variability domains and cortical thickness.

“Our study emphasizes the importance of cortical thickness in gait control and adds value in investigating neural mechanisms of gait,” concluded study authors.

Reference:
Wang Y, Jiang Y, Lu H, et al. Cross-sectional associations between cortical thickness and independent gait domains in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. Published online May 5, 2022. doi:10.1111/jgs.17840