Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, Volume 38, Issue 11-12, Page 795-807, December 2024. BackgroundMobility and cognitive impairment are prevalent and co-occurring in older adults with multiple sclerosis (OAMS), yet there is limited research concerning the role of disability status in the cognitive control of gait among OAMS.ObjectiveWe investigated the levels of prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation, using oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2), during cognitively-demanding tasks in OAMS with lower and higher disability using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to: (1) identify PFC activation differences in single task walk and cognitively-demanding tasks in OAMS with different levels of disability; and (2) evaluate if disability may moderate practice-related changes in neural efficiency in OAMS.MethodsWe gathered data from OAMS with lower (n = 51, age = 65 ± 4 years) or higher disability (n = 48, age = 65 ± 5 years), using a cutoff of 3 or more, in the Patient Determined Disease Steps, for higher disability, under 3 different conditions (single-task walk, Single-Task-Alpha, and Dual-Task-Walk [DTW]) administered over 3 counterbalanced, repeated trials.ResultsOAMS who had a lower disability level exhibited decreased PFC activation levels during Single-Task-Walk (STW) and larger increases in PFC activation levels, when going from STW to a cognitively-demanding task, such as a DTW, than those with higher disability. OAMS with a lower disability level exhibited greater declines in PFC activation levels with additional within session practice than those with a higher disability level.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that disability moderates brain adaptability to cognitively-demanding tasks and demonstrate the potential for fNIRS-derived outcome measures to complement neurorehabilitation outcomes.
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This post is Copyright: Manuel E. Hernandez | August 23, 2024
SAGE Publications Inc STM: Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair: Table of Contents