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. 2023 Nov;23(6):918-929.
doi: 10.1111/psyg.13013. Epub 2023 Aug 2.

Gender and age influence the association between gait speed and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling Japanese older adults: from the Japan Prospective Studies Collaboration for Ageing and Dementia (JPSC-AD)

Shogyoku Bun  1 , Kouta Suzuki  1 , Hidehito Niimura  1 , Ryo Shikimoto  1 , Hisashi Kida  1 , Mao Shibata  2   3 , Takanori Honda  2   3 , Tomoyuki Ohara  3   4 , Jun Hata  2   3 , Shigeyuki Nakaji  5 , Tetsuya Maeda  6 , Kenjiro Ono  7 , Kenji Nakashima  8 , Jun-Ichi Iga  9 , Minoru Takebayashi  10 , Toshiharu Ninomiya  2   3 , Masaru Mimura  1 ; JPSC-AD Study Group
Affiliations

Gender and age influence the association between gait speed and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling Japanese older adults: from the Japan Prospective Studies Collaboration for Ageing and Dementia (JPSC-AD)

Shogyoku Bun et al. Psychogeriatrics. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Studies have shown that decreased gait speed is associated with impaired cognitive function. However, whether this association is equivalent across ages or genders in the older population remains unclear. Thus, we examined the association between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and gait speed emphasising the influence of age and gender.

Methods: Overall, 8233 Japanese participants aged ≥65 years were enrolled in this cross-sectional study between 2016 and 2018. After stratification by gender and age group, the participants' gait speeds were divided into quintiles, and the difference in MCI prevalence at each gait speed quintile was calculated. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the odds of MCI for each quintile and to assess the influence of age and gender.

Results: Males had a consistently higher prevalence of MCI than females. The odds of MCI were increased as gait speed decreased. Logistic regression analyses revealed that in the multivariable-adjusted model 2, the odds ratios (95% confidence interval; CI) for MCI were 2.02 (1.47-2.76) for females and 1.75 (1.29-2.38) for males in the slowest gait speed quintiles compared to the fastest quintile. In the stratified analyses, only males showed an age-dependent increase in the associations between gait speed and MCI, while females exhibited comparable associations across age groups.

Conclusions: Reduced gait speed was associated with increased odds of MCI, and this association may vary according to gender and age. Therefore, gait speed could serve as a valuable screening tool for MCI, with gender- and age-dependent clinical implications.

Keywords: cross-sectional study; gait speed; mild cognitive impairment.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram for participant selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age‐group‐adjusted prevalence of MCI (%) in males and females per gait speed quintile. Abbreviations: MCI, mild cognitive impairment. Gender‐specific differences in MCI prevalence among quintiles are expressed as P for a linear trend. Gender differences in MCI prevalence in each quintile were examined using a χ 2 test. * stands for P < 0.05, ** for P < 0.01, and *** for P < 0.001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Gender and age group differences in the association of gait speed with mild cognitive impairment. Gender‐ and age‐group‐specific associations between gait speed and MCI are shown. Forest plots indicate how a one standard deviation decrease in gait speed changes the risk of MCI. The numbers to the right are odds ratios, followed by the numbers in parentheses that are 95% CI. The odds ratios for the total number of females or males were calculated by adding ‘age group’ as a covariate in the logistic regression equation. The gender‐specific effect of age on the odds of MCI was calculated by adding a multiplicative interaction term between age group and standardised gait speed to the relevant logistic regression model. CI, confidence interval; MCI, mild cognitive impairment.
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