[How to manage gait and balance disorders among older adults aged 65 years and older with mild to moderate dementia in clinical practice?]

Abstract

Gait and balance disorders are frequent in demented older adults. Their management (i.e., diagnosis, assessment and treatment) is challenging in daily practice because of numerous evaluation tests available, difficulties to select the most adapted intervention, and the lack of knowledge of physicians and health professionals concerning adapted centers to refer their patients to those patients. Thus, a working group of experts was organized by the Gérontopôle of Pays de Loire, France, in December 2010 with the aim to provide clinical guidelines for the management of older adults aged 65 years and older with mild to moderate dementia with gait and balance disorders. These guidelines provide answers to the following questions: 1) Is there gait and/or balance disorders? 2) Which specific tests used? and 3) How to treat patients?