Payne Aiden M, McKay J Lucas, Ting Lena H
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
Department of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Cereb Cortex Commun. 2022 Jul 22;3(3):tgac030. doi: 10.1093/texcom/tgac030. eCollection 2022.
Mechanisms underlying associations between balance and cognitive impairments in older adults with and without Parkinson's disease are poorly understood. Balance disturbances evoke a cortical N1 response that is associated with both balance and cognitive abilities in unimpaired populations. We hypothesized that the N1 response reflects neural mechanisms that are shared between balance and cognitive function, and would therefore be associated with both balance and cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease. Although N1 responses did not differ at the group level, they showed different associations with balance and cognitive function in the Parkinson's disease vs. control groups. In the control group, higher N1 amplitudes were correlated with lower cognitive set shifting ability and lower balance confidence. However, in Parkinson's disease, narrower N1 widths (i.e., shorter durations) were associated with greater parkinsonian motor symptom severity, lower balance ability and confidence, lower mobility, and lower overall cognitive function. Despite different relationships across populations, the present results suggest the N1 response reflects neural processes related to both balance and cognitive function. A better understanding of neural mechanisms linking balance and cognitive function could provide insight into associations between balance and cognitive decline in aging populations.
在患有和未患帕金森病的老年人中，平衡与认知障碍之间关联的潜在机制尚不清楚。平衡障碍会引发一种皮层N1反应，在未受损人群中，这种反应与平衡和认知能力都有关联。我们推测，N1反应反映了平衡和认知功能之间共享的神经机制，因此在帕金森病中会与平衡和认知障碍都相关。尽管在组间水平上N1反应没有差异，但在帕金森病组与对照组中，它们与平衡和认知功能的关联有所不同。在对照组中，较高的N1波幅与较低的认知定势转换能力和较低的平衡信心相关。然而，在帕金森病中，较窄的N1波宽（即持续时间较短）与更严重的帕金森运动症状、较低的平衡能力和信心、较低的活动能力以及较低的整体认知功能相关。尽管不同人群之间存在不同的关系，但目前的结果表明，N1反应反映了与平衡和认知功能相关的神经过程。更好地理解连接平衡和认知功能的神经机制，可能有助于深入了解老年人群中平衡与认知衰退之间的关联。
