Preliminary Results from Longitudinal Balance Assessment for Older Adults with Cognitive Decline

Mobility and cognition decline associated with aging and illness are the two most common, intertwined complexities faced by older adults. Cognitive changes are often associated with physical changes and a resulting increase in fall risk. The ongoing assessment of individuals can be limited by frequency of clinical appointments and as dementia progresses, assessments tools can have floor and accuracy issues. This paper presents the longitudinal data analysis of a 10-month pilot study of persons with dementia for the 6 participants that have completed the study out of 9 total to determine the feasibility of a balance assessment system. The participants were recruited from two different adult Day Programs and performed a balance monitoring task using the Biodex Balance System™ which analyzes and measures a participant’s ability to remain steady while stationary. These preliminary results show that participants were generally able to use the system that required them to stand in position without moving their feet during assessment. This system has not been used previously in study of persons with dementia (PWD). The system requires participants to position their feet so their CoG is centered on a system target screen and participants were not consistently able to keep their feet located in this precise location for comfort or memory reasons. Additional study is required to correlate results to health outcomes such as fall risk.