title: Global brain atrophy is associated with physical performance and the risk of falls in older adults with cognitive impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Falls are common in patients with cognitive disorder. The purpose of this study was to determine whether global brain atrophy is associated with cognitive function, physical performance and fall incidents in older adults with mild cognitive disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 31 older adults with mild cognitive disorders (mean age 78.9 ± 7.3 years) were studied, and 10 of them had experienced falls and the others had not in the past 1 year. Cognitive function and physical performance were measured in these patients. Global brain atrophy was determined by the Voxel-Based Specific Regional Analysis System for Alzheimer's Disease software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fallers showed significantly worse scores than the non-fallers in the Global Brain Atrophy Index, Clock Drawing Test (CDT), Verbal Fluency Test (animal), maximum walking time and Timed Up & Go (TUG) Test. The Global Brain Atrophy Index was correlated with the Verbal Fluency Test (animal; r = -0.522), the Verbal Fluency Test with letter (ka; r = -0.337), CDT (r = -0.547), TUG (r = 0.276) and Five Chair Stands Test (r = 0.303) by age-adjusted correlation analyses. Stepwise regression analysis showed that the Global Brain Atrophy Index (β = 1.265, 95% CI 1.022-1.567) was a significant and independent determinant of falls (R(2) = 0.356, P = 0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Global brain atrophy might be indicated as one of the risk factors for falls in older adults with mild cognitive disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Health Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. yamada@hs.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takechi
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aoyama
authors.forename: Hidenori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arai
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D001284:Atrophy; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology