School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
Exp Gerontol. 2023 Jun 15;177:112200. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2023.112200. Epub 2023 May 9.
Age-related changes in dual-task walking are well established, but research in this topic is based on evidence from laboratory rather than real-world studies. We investigated how dual-task walking on real-world surfaces affects young and older adults' gait characteristics and cognitive resource allocation.
Sixteen young (aged 19-35, 12 female) and fifteen older adults (aged 70-85, 7 female) with no major neurological or musculoskeletal disorders walked at a self-selected speed on forty-metre outdoor paths that had asphalt or grass surface. They walked with or without a cognitive task (counting backwards). Cognitive task difficulty was individually adjusted at 80 % accuracy. Participants performed the three tasks in Single Task (ST Asphalt, ST Grass, ST Cognitive) and Dual Task context (DT Asphalt-Cognitive, DT Grass-Cognitive).
The two groups showed similar dual task effects in cognition and walking speed, both of which were slower when dual-task walking. Older adults' steps were wider overall but only young adults widened their step width when dual-task walking on grass compared to asphalt. Similarly, young adults' step height increased from single to dual-task walking when on grass, where older adults' did not.
The lack of adaptation of step width and height when dual-task walking may leave older adults vulnerable to tripping or falling in common real-world conditions, such as while walking on grass, gravel, or uneven city sidewalks. Considering this, the built environment should be made more accessible to facilitate older adults' safe walking.
与年龄相关的双重任务行走变化已得到充分证实，但该主题的研究基于实验室证据，而非真实世界的研究。我们研究了在真实世界表面进行双重任务行走如何影响年轻和老年成年人的步态特征和认知资源分配。
16 名年轻成年人（年龄 19-35 岁，12 名女性）和 15 名老年成年人（年龄 70-85 岁，7 名女性）没有重大神经或肌肉骨骼疾病，在 40 米长的户外路径上以自我选择的速度行走，这些路径的表面是沥青或草地。他们在有或没有认知任务（倒计数）的情况下行走。认知任务的难度根据 80%的准确率进行个体化调整。参与者在单任务（ST 沥青、ST 草地、ST 认知）和双重任务（DT 沥青-认知、DT 草地-认知）条件下执行三项任务。
两组在认知和行走速度方面都表现出相似的双重任务效应，双重任务行走时两者都较慢。老年人的整体步幅较宽，但只有年轻成年人在草地双任务行走时步幅变宽，而在沥青上则不变。同样，当在草地上行走时，年轻成年人的步高从单任务增加到双重任务，而老年成年人的则没有增加。
在双重任务行走时，步宽和步高没有适应性变化，这可能使老年人在常见的真实世界条件下（如在草地上、砾石上或不平坦的城市人行道上行走）容易绊倒或摔倒。考虑到这一点，应使建筑环境更容易接近，以方便老年人安全行走。
