Cognition and walking speed often parallel each other when it comes to determining the health trajectory of older adults, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Texas (UT) Health San Antonio. “For most of the population we studied, changes in cognition and gait speed were parallel, which suggests shared mechanisms,” said Mitzi M.
Gonzales, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a neuropsychologist with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, part of UT Health San Antonio.
Cognition and gait speed may be altered by blood vessel disease, brain tissue insults, hormone regulation, and abnormal deposits of amyloid beta and tau proteins in the brain, Gonzales said.
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