title: Contribution of genetic and environmental factors to individual differences in maximal walking speed with and without second task in older women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Among older people, distraction while walking may increase the risk of falls. Factors underlying individual differences in dual tasking are not fully understood. Our aim was to study the effect of a second task on maximal walking speed and to examine whether individual differences in walking speed measured with and without a second task are accounted for by genetic and environmental influences shared across tasks or specific to each task.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data were collected from the 101 monozygotic and 116 dizygotic twin pairs aged 63-76 years recruited from the Finnish Twin Cohort. Maximal walking speed (MWS) over 10 m was measured on a laboratory corridor and timed with photocells. The test was repeated while subjects performed, first, a manual task (MWSmanual) and, second, a verbal task (MWSverbal).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean walking speed without a simultaneous task was 1.72 m/s (standard deviation [SD] 0.33), with a manual task it was 1.52 m/s (SD 0.26), and with a verbal task it was 1.36 m/s (SD 0.27). Multivariate genetic analysis showed that an additive genetic factor in common accounted for 17% of individual differences in MWS, 19% in MWSmanual, and 12% in MWSverbal. In addition, MWSverbal had a genetic factor specific to it accounting for 10% of the variance. Shared environmental influences, common to all three traits, accounted for 39%, 27%, and 21% of the individual differences, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Approximately half of the individual differences in walking with or without another task were accounted for by genetic and nongenetic familial effects in common, and the rest of the variation was accounted for by unique environmental factors in common and factors specific to walking tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. saarvone@sport.jyu.fi
authors.forename: Satu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pajala
authors.forename: Pertti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Era
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koskenvuo
authors.forename: Jaakko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaprio
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alén
authors.forename: Asko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tolvanen
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tiainen
authors.forename: Taina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rantanen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008875:Middle Aged; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*