DURHAM, N.C., U.S.: In a recent study, researchers from Duke University in Durham have found that the walking speed of 45-year-olds can reveal a considerable amount about their teeth, lungs, immune system and brains. In the five-decadelong cohort study, researchers collected data from nearly 1,000 participants from the age of 3 in order to establish whether they could find corresponding neurocognitive data to indicate who would become slow walkers later in life and what this might mean in regard to general health.
Gait speed is usually used to measure the health of older patients, and this recent study has shown that there are biomarkers that may indicate the health and well-being of patients from a much earlier age.
According to the researchers, the neurocognitive testing that the study’s participants undertook at age 3 included an IQ test and tests of language understanding, frustration tolerance, motor skills and emotional control. This testing proved very good at predicting who would become a slower walker later in life. Over the course of five decades, participants of the study were then tested 13 times. The last round of data collection took place between April 2017 and April 2019. From the data gathered, the researchers were able to show that the slower walkers had signs of accelerated aging when it came to aspects like teeth, lungs and immune system compared with the people who walked faster.
“The thing that’s really striking is that this is in 45-year-old people, not the geriatric patients who are usually assessed with such measures,” said lead researcher Dr. Line J.H. Rasmussen, a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.
In addition, MRI scans that were taken toward the end of the study showed that the slower walkers tended to have lower total brain volume, lower mean cortical thickness, less brain surface area and a higher incidence of white matter hyperintensities.
The researchers acknowledged that lifestyle choices may have caused some of the differences in health and cognition, but said that they believed that the study still provided valuable biomarkers to see who was likely to do better health-wise later in life.
The study, titled “Association of neurocognitive and physical function with gait speed in midlife,” was published on Oct. 11, 2019, in JAMA Network Open.
Tags:
LONDON, UK: Though elite athletes generally possess an enviable level of physical fitness, a recent study has shown that their oral health may leave much to...
BRISTOL, UK: The importance of mother’s milk to an infant’s development is now well established. In a recent study, researchers analysed the fossilised ...
BELÉM, Brazil: Television can often play a key role in determining what foods people purchase, thanks to its high concentration of food product ...
HELSINKI, Finland: Scientists have previously identified obesity and increasing age as risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Some scholars ...
WARSAW, Poland: There has long been a debate around what constitutes excessive time spent on devices and the adverse health effects of this. In a new study ...
CHAMPIONSGATE, Fla., U.S.: In the interest of public health, the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) has published a new research ...
DUBAI, UAE: Improved medical care has led to a higher life expectancy for individuals with Down’s syndrome, resulting in an increased need for dental care...
LEIPZIG, Germany: Statistical tracking has been a priority for the governments of Scandinavian countries in recent years, detailed records being kept on ...
MINNEAPOLIS, U.S.: University of Minnesota researchers have studied how oral bacteria adhere to surfaces and develop biofilms in the oral cavity. In the ...
SYDNEY, Australia: For some women, hormonal changes that occur owing to pregnancy can lead to oral health problems such as dental caries and periodontal ...
Live webinar
Thu. 18 July 2024
8:00 pm EST (New York)
Live webinar
Tue. 6 August 2024
6:00 pm EST (New York)
Live webinar
Tue. 13 August 2024
7:00 pm EST (New York)
Live webinar
Wed. 21 August 2024
9:00 am EST (New York)
Dr. Jim Lai DMD, MSc(Perio), EdD, FRCD(C)
Live webinar
Wed. 28 August 2024
8:00 pm EST (New York)
Live webinar
Mon. 2 September 2024
5:00 am EST (New York)
Live webinar
Tue. 3 September 2024
11:00 am EST (New York)
To post a reply please login or register