\u201cThese are basic office tests which can provide insight into risk of dementia and stroke and can be easily performed by a neurologist or general practitioner,\u201d said Erica C. Camargo, MD, MSc, PhD, with Boston Medical Center.<\/p>\n More than 2,400 men and women with an average age of 62 underwent tests for walking speed, hand grip strength and cognitive function. Brain scans were also performed. During the follow-up period of up to 11 years, 34 people developed dementia and 70 people had a stroke.<\/p>\n The study found people with a slower walking speed in middle age were one-and-a-half times more likely to develop dementia compared to people with faster walking speed<\/strong>. Stronger hand grip strength was associated with a 42 percent lower risk of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) in people over age 65 compared to those with weaker hand grip strength<\/strong>. This was not the case, however, for people in the study under age 65.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile frailty and lower physical performance in elderly people have been associated with an increased risk of dementia, we weren\u2019t sure until now how it impacted people of middle age,\u201d said Camargo.<\/p>\n Researchers also found that slower walking speed was associated with lower total cerebral brain volume and poorer performance on memory, language and decision-making tests<\/strong>. Stronger hand grip strength was associated with larger total cerebral brain volume as well as better performance on cognitive tests asking people to identify similarities among objects<\/strong>. \u201cFurther research is needed to understand why this is happening and whether preclinical disease could cause slow walking and decreased strength,\u201d said Camargo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the American Academy of Neurology press release via Newswise: Simple tests such as walking speed and hand grip strength may help doctors determine how likely it is a middle-aged… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,4,6],"tags":[195,42,18,194,182],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1395,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Brain.jpg\" "\\"brain\\"")
Simple tests such as walking speed and hand grip strength may help doctors determine how likely it is a middle-aged person will develop dementia or stroke<\/strong>. That\u2019s according to new research that was released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology\u2019s 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans April 21 to April 28, 2012.<\/p>\n