title: Depressive symptoms and gait dysfunction in the elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Assess the association between depressive symptoms (not meeting the criteria for major depression) and gait dysfunction in older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Einstein Aging Study, a community-based longitudinal aging study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six hundred ten nondemented and nondepressed community-residing adults age 70 and older.
  
  
  METHODS
  Depressive symptoms measured using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. To obtain a comprehensive assessment of gait, eight individual quantitative gait parameters were assessed: velocity (cm/s), stride length (cm), cadence (steps/min), swing phase (seconds), stance phase (seconds), double support phase (seconds), stride length variability (SD of stride length), and swing time variability (SD of swing time). Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to study the association of depressive symptoms with gait, adjusting for potential confounders including demographic variables, medical illnesses, and clinical gait abnormalities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Increased level of depressive symptoms was associated with worse velocity, stride, and swing time variability. The relationship of the remaining five gait variables with depressive symptoms was not significant in the fully adjusted models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher levels of depressive symptoms are associated with worse performance in specific quantitative gait variables in community-residing older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Tamar C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Brandler
authors.forename: Cuiling
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Mooyeon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oh-Park
authors.forename: Roee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holtzer
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verghese
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male