title: Walking and talking in maintenance hemodialysis patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether there is a reduction in walking with the simultaneous performance of a cognitive task (ie, dual-task cost [DTC]) in persons undergoing hemodialysis (HD), and whether it is greater in persons undergoing HD compared with age-matched controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  University research laboratory.
  
  
  METHODS
  Persons undergoing HD (n=14; 5 women, 9 men; mean age ± SD, 50.0±11.8y) and age-matched controls (n=14; 4 women, 10 men; mean age ± SD, 48.5±10.1y) participated in the investigation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Not applicable.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants walked at a self-selected pace on an electronic pathway, which recorded spatiotemporal parameters of gait, in 4 separate trials and completed a cognitive task in the last 2 trials. The DTC was quantified as the change in spatiotemporal parameters of gait from baseline to the cognitive trials.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The HD group had a greater decrease in walking function during the cognitive task, with DTC ranging from 6% to 14%. On average, walking velocity decreased to less than 1m/s in HD patients during the cognitive condition. Baseline walking velocity was found to be moderately correlated with the magnitude of DTC of cadence and step time (ρ=-.44 and .46; P values <.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Persons undergoing HD have greater interference between walking and talking compared with controls. Difficulty walking while thinking has implications for everyday life and may be related to the risk of falls. Further work is necessary to determine other contributing factors to elevated DTC in HD patients, and whether DTC can be reduced with targeted interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Sunghoon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Hae Ryong
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Brandon M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kistler
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Fitschen
authors.forename: Kenneth R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Wilund
authors.forename: Jacob J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sosnoff
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*