• Yurun Cai, Jeffrey M Hausdorff, Jonathan F Bean, Brad Manor, Tongjian You, and Suzanne G Leveille.
• Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. ycai28@jhu.edu.
• Aging Clin Exp Res. 2020 May 15.

BackgroundGiven the evidence of the links between cognition and mobility, participation in cognitive activities may benefit neuromotor performance and mobility in older adults.AimsTo examine the association between participation in cognitive activities and foot reaction time (RT) and gait speed in community-dwelling older adults.MethodsThe MOBILIZE Boston Study II (MBSII) re-enrolled 354 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 70 years from the original MBS cohort. Of these, 310 completed the performance testing and we excluded three participants who had Parkinson's disease. Cognitive Activities Scale (CAS) assessed participation in 17 cognitive activities. Simple and Choice foot RT (SRT, CRT, msec) and gait speed (m/s) were measured using a sensored GAITRite® gait mat.ResultsThe average age of the 307 participants was 84 years; 79% were white and 65% were women. The average CAS score was 25.5 ± 11.7, indicating participation in approximately 26 activities per week on average. The average foot SRT was 245 ± 57msec and average CRT was 323 ± 85msec. Usual-paced gait speed was 0.9 ± 0.3 m/s on average. More frequent participation in cognitive activities was associated with shorter SRT (β = - 0.759, p = 0.015) and CRT (β = - 1.125, p = 0.013), and faster gait speed (β = 0.003, p = 0.026), after adjusting for potential confounders.DiscussionParticipation in cognitively stimulating activities may be beneficial for neuromotor performance and mobility in older adults.ConclusionsProspective and intervention studies are needed to determine whether participation in cognitive activities may prevent mobility decline over time, and thus reduce fall risk.

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