New study finds that slow walking could be a sign of dementia

新研究发现，走路慢可能是痴呆症的症状

原文网址

https://www.dvm360.com/view/new-study-finds-that-slow-walking-could-be-a-sign-of-dementia

June 28, 2023

Sydney Yankowicz, Assistant Editor

American Veterinarian®

A new study from North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine measured gait speed in senior dogs to find a coloration with a decline in their neurological function as they age. The researchers on this study measured gait speed off leash in 46 adult and 49 senior dogs.1 The adult dogs (older than 1 year and younger than 75% of their expected lifespan),2 who served as a control group, only had their gait speed measured. Individual gait speed was measured first by walking them over a 5-meter distance on a leash with a handler, then by offering a treat the same distance away from the dogs, and calling them to retrieve it off leash. The senior dogs (older than 75% of their expected lifespan)2 did some additional cognitive testing and their owners filled out a cognitive assessment questionnaire, called the CADES questionnaire. A higher CADES score indicates more severe cognitive decline.1

北卡罗来纳州立大学兽医学院的一项新研究测量了老年犬的步态速度，以找到随着年龄增长，神经功能下降的变化。这项研究的研究人员测量了46例成年犬和49例老年犬的无牵引绳下步态速度（gait speed off leash）。1 成年犬(年龄大于1岁，小于预期寿命的75%)作为对照组，只测量了它们的步态速度。个体的步态速度首先是通过在训练者的带领下牵着狗狗带走5米的距离来测量的，然后在离狗狗相同距离的地方提供食物，然后松开牵引绳，呼喊它们来攫取食物。老年犬(超过预期寿命的75%) 2 做了一些额外的认知测试，它们的主人填写了一份认知评估问卷，称为CADES问卷。CADES评分越高，表明认知能力下降越严重。1

“Walking speed in people is strongly associated with cognitive decline,” said Natasha Olby, Dr Kady M. Gjessing and Rahna M. Davidson Distinguished Chair in gerontology at NC State and corresponding author of the study. “We hypothesized that the same might be true in dogs.”1

“人类的走路速度与认知能力下降密切相关，”北卡罗来纳州立大学老年学杰出主席、该研究的通讯作者娜塔莎·奥尔比（Natasha Olby）说。“我们假设狗狗也可能如此。”1

To rule out other factors, dogs had to be free of co-morbidities that could impede their ability to perform the tests such as inability to walk or blindness. The dogs selected ranged from different breeds and sizes.2

为了排除其他因素，狗 狗必须没有合并症，因为一些合并症可能会妨碍它们进行测试的能力，比如无法行走或失明。被选中的狗狗有各种各样的品种和大小。2

To further evaluate cognitive function beyond the CADES questionnaire, testing was performed to evaluate attention (sustained gaze test), social cues (pointing test), working memory, executive control (inhibitory control cylinder task) and problem solving (detour cylinder task).2

为了进一步评估CADES问卷之外的认知功能，进行了注意力（attention）(持续凝视测试)、社交线索（social cues）(指向测试)、工作记忆（working memory）、执行控制（executive control）(抑制性控制圆柱体任务）和问题解决（problem solving）（绕行圆柱体任务）的测试。2

The researchers found that in the senior dogs, size didn’t matter when it came to speed; in other words, dogs in the last 25% of their expected life span moved more slowly than adult dogs, regardless of relative size. “Just as in humans, our walking speed is pretty stable through most of our lives, then it declines as we enter the last quarter or so of our lifespan,” Olby said in the release.1

研究人员发现，在老年犬中，体型对速度的影响并不大；换句话说，不管狗狗的体型大小，在它们预期寿命的最后25%的年龄时，它们的行动速度都比成年狗狗要慢。奥尔比在新闻稿中说：“就像人类一样，我们的行走速度在生命的大部分时间里都相当稳定，然后在我们进入生命的最后四分之一左右时，速度会下降。”1

Senior dogs who moved more slowly had more severe levels of cognitive decline based on the owner-completed questionnaires and also did worse on the cognitive testing. The researchers also found that joint pain did not seem to correlate with walking speed, although they note that there were no dogs with severe osteoarthritis in the program. They hope to address this issue in future work.1

根据主人填写的调查问卷，行动更慢的老年 狗狗的认知能力下降程度更严重，在认知测试中的表现也更差。研究人员还发现，关节疼痛似乎与行走速度无关，尽管他们注意到，在这个项目中没有患有严重骨关节炎的狗狗。他们希望在今后的工作中解决这个问题。1

“When you look at functional aging, the two most important predictors of morbidity are mobility and cognition,” Olby said. “Mobility relies heavily on sensory input, central processing, and motor output – in other words, the nervous system – as a result, mobility and cognition are super interconnected. When you have less mobility, the amount of input your nervous system gets is also reduced. It’s not surprising that walking speed and dementia are correlated. For me, the exciting part of the study is not only that we show gait speed correlates with dementia in dogs as in people, but also that the method of testing we used is easy to replicate, since it’s food motivated and over a short distance. It could become a simple screening test for any veterinarian to perform on aging patients.”1

“当你观察功能性衰老时，发病率的两个最重要的预测因素是行动能力和认知能力，”奥尔比说。“活动很大程度上依赖于感觉输入、中央处理和运动输出——换句话说，神经系统——因此，活动和认知是超级相互关联的。”当你行动不便时，你的神经系统接收到的信息量也会减少。走路速度和痴呆相关并不奇怪。对我来说，这项研究令人兴奋的部分不仅在于我们发现狗狗和人的步态速度与痴呆症有关，而且我们使用的测试方法很容易复制，因为它是由食物驱动的，而且距离很短。它可以成为任何兽医对老年病患进行的一种简单的筛选测试。

More details on the study can be found here: “Winning the race with aging: age-related changes in gait speed and its association with cognitive performance in dogs.” 

关于这项研究的更多细节可以在这里找到:“赢得与衰老的比赛：狗狗的步态速度与年龄相关的变化及其与认知表现的关系。”

DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1150590

References 参考文献

1. Slow walking could be sign of dementia in older dogs. News release. North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. June 27, 2023.

2. Mondino A, Khan M, Case B, Fefer G, Panek W, Gruen M, Olby N. Winning the race with aging: age-related changes in gait speed and its association with cognitive performance in dogs. Front Vet Sci. 2023;10 doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1150590

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