Ide Ryotaro, Ota Miho, Hada Yasushi, Watanabe Serina, Takahashi Takumi, Tamura Masashi, Nemoto Kiyotaka, Arai Tetsuaki
Doctoral Program in Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Tsukuba Hospital, Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Gait Posture. 2022 Mar;93:252-258. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2022.01.018. Epub 2022 Jan 29.
Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) exhibit balance deficits. Although only a few studies have evaluated the relationship between the brain images and balance indices. In this study, we measured balance indices, including the index of postural stability (IPS) and assessed the relationship between the brain images and their clinical motor and cognitive functional features.
The study included patients with MCI (N = 14) and patients with AD (N = 19). The primary outcome was IPS under a visual block condition and/or a proprioception block condition. In addition, 9 MCI and 8 AD patients underwent a 1.5-Tesla (1.5-T) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan, and the relationships between the MRI parameters and the balance indices were evaluated.
The IPS score was significantly lower in the AD group than the MCI group, but only under the closed eyes/hard surface condition. In terms of MRI, there was a significant positive correlation between the IPS and the regional betweenness centrality in the left hippocampal region.
The finding of a significantly lower IPS score under the closed eyes/hard surface condition in AD than in MCI cases suggests that the vestibular and/or proprioceptive systems were more severely impaired in AD than MCI cases. The results suggest that a dynamic balance disturbance due to deficits of the vestibular hippocampal pathway may be a useful marker for the diagnosis of MCI and detection of disease progression from MCI to AD.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）和轻度认知障碍（MCI）患者存在平衡缺陷。尽管只有少数研究评估了脑图像与平衡指标之间的关系。在本研究中，我们测量了平衡指标，包括姿势稳定性指数（IPS），并评估了脑图像与其临床运动和认知功能特征之间的关系。
该研究纳入了MCI患者（N = 14）和AD患者（N = 19）。主要结局是视觉阻断条件和/或本体感觉阻断条件下的IPS。此外，9例MCI患者和8例AD患者接受了1.5特斯拉（1.5-T）磁共振成像（MRI）扫描，并评估了MRI参数与平衡指标之间的关系。
AD组的IPS评分显著低于MCI组，但仅在闭眼/硬表面条件下。在MRI方面，IPS与左侧海马区的区域中间中心性之间存在显著正相关。
在闭眼/硬表面条件下，AD患者的IPS评分显著低于MCI患者，这一发现表明AD患者的前庭和/或本体感觉系统比MCI患者受损更严重。结果表明，前庭海马通路缺陷导致的动态平衡障碍可能是诊断MCI和检测从MCI到AD疾病进展的有用标志物。
