[Variability in gait among patients with Alzheimer-type dementia].
We studied age-related changes in gait and equilibrium in healthy subjects and patients with Alzheimer-type dementia. We also studied the relation between gait and falling in institutionalized patients with Alzheimer-type dementia. Among healthy subjects, higher age was associated with greater postural sway, slower walking speed, and shorter stride length, but age was not associated with stride-length variability. In patients with mild Alzheimer-type dementia, both postural sway and stride length-variability were greater than in healthy subjects. Among patients who had fallen, stride length-variability was high. Variability in gait may be useful in distinguishing normal age-related decreases in gait from those associated with disease.
Nakamura
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Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tohoku University School of Medicine.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004856:Postural Balance