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In clinical practice, different drawing tests are used for the assessment of cognitive efficiency in the geriatric population. However, so far, the contribution of motor skills to drawing performance has not been sufficiently examined in the late adult life span. This study was aimed at disentangling the role played by motor functioning in three well-known drawing tests that in the clinical field are commonly used to detect some signs of cognitive impairment of older individuals. One hundred and forty-nine community dwellers (Mage = 77.4 years, SD = 5.9 years) completed a battery of tests assessing global cognitive efficiency, drawing skills (i.e., Clock Drawing, Visuo-spatial Drawing ACE-R, Copy Figures Tests), handgrip muscular strength (HGS), and functional mobility (assessed through the Timed-Up-and-Go test). Significant relationships were found among those measures. Moreover, handgrip strength and functional mobility explained 12–19% of the variance in each drawing condition. Finally, participants exhibiting poorer HGS performed worse the drawing tasks and were successively recognized as cognitively deteriorated. In conclusion, these findings highlight that motor skills can significantly impact the assessment of cognitive efficiency in late adulthood. Therefore, in clinical practice, the concurrent assessment of basic motor functions (in terms of muscular strength and functional mobility) and cognitive efficiency of the geriatric population at risk for cognitive decline should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A current research trend is the examination of the interplay between cognitive functioning, higher-order processes, and motor efficiency in late adulthood. However, the association between motor and cognitive functions when cognitive decline occurs has not been extensively explored. This study investigated whether gait features, functional mobility, and handgrip strength were associated with executive functions in older people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. Methods: 127 older participants (Mage = 77.9 years, SD = 5.8 years) who had received a diagnosis of MCI and dementia voluntarily took part in the study. A battery of tests assessing global cognitive function, executive functions, muscular strength, functional mobility, and spatio-temporal parameters of gait was completed by the participants. Results: Statistically significant correlations were obtained between global cognitive function, executive functions, and motor efficiency measures. Moreover, a series of regression analyses showed that 8–13% of the variance of several motor parameters was predicted by several executive functions. Additionally, walking, functional mobility, and global cognitive function predicted 53–71% of the variance relative to the occurrence of dementia. In conclusion, motor functioning is closely related to cognitive functioning in late adulthood. Conclusions: The assessment of muscular strength and functional mobility should be promoted in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the present study was to compare the smoothness of gait in older adults with and without cognitive impairments, using the harmonic ratio (HR), a metric derived from trunk accelerations. Ninety older adults aged over 65 (age: 78.9 ± 4.8 years; 62% female) underwent instrumental gait analysis, performed using a wearable inertial sensor and cognitive assessment with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R). They were stratified into three groups based on their MMSE performance: healthy controls (HC), early and advanced cognitive decline (ECD, ACD). The spatio-temporal and smoothness of gait parameters, the latter expressed through HR in anteroposterior (AP), vertical (V) and mediolateral (ML) directions, were derived from trunk acceleration data. The existence of a relationship between gait parameters and degree of cognitive impairment was also explored. The results show that individuals with ECD and ACD exhibited significantly slower speed and shorter stride length, as well as reduced values of HR in the AP and V directions compared to HC, while no significant differences were found between ECD and ACD in any of the investigated parameters. Gait speed, stride length and HR in all directions were found to be moderately correlated with both MMSE and ACE-R scores. Such findings suggest that, in addition to the known changes in gait speed and stride length, important reductions in smoothness of gait are likely to occur in older adults, owing to early/prodromal stages of cognitive impairment. Given the peculiar nature of these metrics, which refers to overall body stability during gait, the calculation of HR may result in being useful in improving the characterization of gait patterns in older adults with cognitive impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]