%0 Journal Article
%T The effects of gait speed and psychomotor speed on risk for depression and anxiety in older adults with medical comorbidities
%J Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
%D 2021
%A Stahl, Sarah T.
%A Altmann, Helene M.
%A Dew, Mary Amanda
%A Albert, Steven M.
%A Butters, Meryl
%A Gildengers, Ariel
%A Reynolds, Charles F.
%A Karp, Jordan F.
%V ePub
%N ePub
%P ePub-ePub
%X BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Gait speed and psychomotor speed slow with age and may predict neuropsychiatric disease such as depression and anxiety. We explored the  relative predictive values of gait speed, psychomotor slowing, and a composite index  of these two measures on time to new episode depression or anxiety in older adults  at risk for these common psychiatric conditions. <br><br>DESIGN: Randomized controlled  prevention trial with 15-month follow-up.   SETTING: University-based late-life mental  health research clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred thirteen individuals, age 60+  years, with subsyndromal symptoms of depression or anxiety and one of the following  risk factors for these common conditions: mild cognitive impairment, knee  osteoarthritis, or disabilities requiring home-based care.   INTERVENTION:  Participants in each of the risk factor groups were randomized to a  depression-specific preventive intervention or usual care.   MEASUREMENTS: Gait speed:  4-m walk test from the Short Physical Performance Battery. Psychomotor speed: Coding  task of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. We  created a composite index of slowing by determining whether participants exceeded  established cut-offs for slow performance in both gait speed (≤0.8 m/s) and  psychomotor speed (<7 on the coding task). Time to new onset syndromal  depression/anxiety was measured using research diagnostic criteria. <br><br>RESULTS:  Fifty-four participants developed syndromal depression/anxiety (19.5%) over the  course of 15 months. Participants with slowing in both areas were over twice as  likely to experience new onset depression/anxiety (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.11; 95%  confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-4.40, P = .046) compared to participants with no  slowing in either area. Slowed gait (HR = 1.88; 95% CI = 0.992-3.55; P = .052) or  slowed psychomotor speed (HR = 0.60; 95% CI = 0.14-2.58; P = .488) alone did not  increase risk for depression/anxiety. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Evaluating both gait and  psychomotor speed in older adults with medical comorbidities and sub-syndromal  depression may predict incident mental illness and inform prevention planning. Future research is needed to validate our observations and explore shared  neurobiological mechanisms that explain this elevated risk.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I John Wiley and Sons
%@ 0002-8614
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17024