Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Abstract

Falls and dementia are two mayor geriatric syndromes that there are both also related with frailty (�state of an increase vulnerability to adverse outcomes�). Falls are very common and prevalent in people with dementia and there is an increased risk of injuries related to falls (i.e., hip fractures). Until recently gait and cognitive assessments have been performed separately when evaluating older adults, but increasing evidence from clinical practice, epidemiological studies, and clinical trial shows that gait, cognition and falls are closely interrelated in older adults, specifically in frail elderly adults. Gait impairments are associated with falls, dementia, frailty and disability. In the same direction, new evidence shows that early disturbances in certain domains of cognition such as attention and executive function are associated with subtle gait impairments (i.e., gait velocity, gait variability) during single- and dual-task testing. These cognitive disturbances assist in the prediction of future mobility loss, falls, and progression to dementia. Gait assessments can provide a new tool in the understanding of cognitive impairment and fall risk in older people in clinical practice. The benefits of dual-task gait assessments (e.g., walking while performing a cognitive task) as an early markers of fall risk is analyzed. A novel approach for reducing the risk of falls in aged people with dementia by improving certain aspects of cognition through non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions is also presented.

Biography

Alvaro Casas Herrero (MD, PhD) is a Geriatrician working for the Navarra Public Health Service since 2008. He has recently gained his PhD from Public University of Navarra with very recently research in the area of falls, frailty and cognitive decline in nonagerians and interventions like physical exercise. He is the secretary of the Navarran Geriatric Society and one of the coordinators of the Falls and Fracture Group of the Spanish Geriatric Society. He is a collaborating investigator with the Public University of Navarra and Spanish Net on Aging and Frailty (RETICEF) with over 15 publications in PUBMED on the topic on cognition, falls and frailty. He is participating in ongoing European projects as the main investigator in Navarra, like MID FRAIL STYUDY (A randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-modal intervention in frail and prefrail older people with type 2 diabetes on frailty and quality of life and A2CCEPT (Alzheimer & Ageing Care & Coping Empowerment webPlaTform) proposal to the H2020 PHC20 call.