Comparison of motor performance of upper and lower extremities in dual-task tests in patients with mild Alzheimer's dementia.
BACKGROUND
Alzheimer's dementia (AD) is a progressive disease that threatens the self-care and quality of life of elderly people. Early diagnosis and early treatment are crucial.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the difference in executive function of patients with AD by analyzing their performance in gait analysis (Vicon MX system) and a trial making test (TMT) while counting forward or backward.


METHODS
Ten elderly persons who had been diagnosed by neurological specialists with mild AD were selected as study participants. Of these patients, 2 were men and 8 were women, and the average age was 74.0 ± 8.6 years. An additional group of 10 elderly persons without AD and matched according to age and sex constituted a control group.


RESULTS
The average Mini-Mental State Examination score was 17.7 ± 4.1, and the average clinical dementia rating scale score was 0.8 ± 0.3. We found that backward counting of 3 digits during gait performance in mild AD patients elicited substantial changes in velocity, cadence, coefficient of variation of the stride length, and stride time compared with those of the control group. Regarding upper extremity performance, all TMT tasks were highly sensitive in revealing differences in reaction time between the mild AD group and the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
Dual-task challenges for examining gait parameters and TMT performance can reveal obvious impairment of executive motor function in patients with very mild AD.


CONCLUSIONS
Dual-task motor tests of the upper extremities can be used as screening tools for detecting AD at an early stage.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Yin-Chou
YC
Lin
Department of Neurology and Dementia Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China.|School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Wen-Chuin
WC
Hsu
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Chih-Kuan
CK
Wu
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Wei-Han
WH
Chang
School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China.|Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Katie Pei-Hsuan
KP
Wu
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China. lin110602@gmail.com.|School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, 5, Fu-Hsin St., Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, 333, Taiwan, Republic of China. lin110602@gmail.com.
Alice M K
AM
Wong
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000502:physiology
Alzheimer’s dementia; Dual-task; Executive function; Gait; Trial making test