Decline in Walking Speed Increases Risk of Dementia in Elderly
Laurence Tabanao Gayao, MD
The number of people with dementia is estimated to be 50 million worldwide and projected to grow to 150 million by 2050. As much of the damage on the nervous system of dementia is believed to progressively accumulate 20 to 30 years before diagnosis, it is important that at-risk individuals are identified so that modifiable risk factors are addressed and available interventions provided.
The combination of decline in walking speed and memory is strongly associated with the risk of dementia in older adults, according to a recent study released by the Journal of the Online American Medical Association.
Between 2010 and 2017 Taya A. Collyer, Ph. D., from Monash University in Melbourne, Australian and her colleagues examined 16,855 elderly adults in the United States and Australia, the association of the dual decline gait speed and cognition (global, memory, processing speed and verbal fluency) with the risk for dementia. These were relatively healthy adults when chosen for the study. Gait speed were measures at years 0, 2, 4, and 6. These subjects also participated in the randomize low-dose aspirin trial.
Changes in motor performance are increasingly recognized as early markers of cognitive decline and dementia. Slow gait speed is associated with both cognitive (conscious intellectual activity -such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering) decline and a greater risk of dementia. These associations may be because of underlying shared risk factors, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and low physical activity, or common underlying nerve pathways disrupted by cerebral (brain) small vessel disease or Alzheimer disease (AD) change in the brain.
Actually there has been several studies that have showed the association of decline in walking speed and increase risk of dementia among older adults but this is that biggest one to confirm the association. As a 76 years senior citizen, knowing about this study I do all I can not to be a part of this statistic?
I approach the problem in a wholistic way:
- simple good nutrition
- consistent physical exercise
- adequate sleep
- mental exercise
- For believers like, trust in the almighty
When I do walking exercise I intensionally take bigger steps and endeavor to increase my speed incrementally as I could tolerate. Part of getting older is getting weaker especially of the lower extremities and problems with ones balance. This tends to make one walk slower and take shorter steps to maintain their balance.
It is important to be purpose driven. You have to be goal oriented, saying to yourself, this is what I want to be and this is what I will do. Many people go through life aimlessly and expecting that all things will be alright. You don’t expect to reach your destination unless you drive your car in the right direction so why would you expect good health results without heading the right path to attain or maintain good physical and mental health.
In my line of work as a physician I see many patients who are younger than me who are in poor mental and physical shape because of benign neglect. It is funny when someone says to me, “Doc, when you get my age you’ll know how miserable it feels.” When I look at their charts I discover they a younger than me, but when I look at them they are definitely look older than me. I was in a conversation few days ago with my neighbors, somehow the conversation got to the subject of problems associated with aging. Finally I told my them, “You know I don’t plan on getting old, I just plan to be as young I could possibly can.” Everyone broke into a laughter. Then I added, “Everybody will eventually get old unless they die young, but let’s not be in harry to get there.”
This study just reinforces the strong relation of physical health and mental health among elderly. Physical and mental decline usually don’t happen overnight. It usually is a slow progressive process, so it is important for individuals, researchers and healthcare providers to do all that is need to control its progression.
