INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 05 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 02:30 pm - 03:45 pm Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry \| Addiction/Dependence \| Stress/Coping \| Emotional/Social Processes Final Abstract #70 Dual Task Cost in Older Adults With and Without Lifetime History of Depression Jeremy Maciarz, McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States Vincent Koppelmans, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States Devan Palmer, McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States Jack Kaufman, McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States Megan Armstrong, Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook, United States Sara Weisenbach, McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States Category: Mood and Anxiety Disorders Keyword 1: executive functions Keyword 2: motor speed Keyword 3: depression Objective: Dual tasking, coordinating simultaneous performance of more than one task, is one aspect of executive functioning. The current study examined whether late-middle-aged and older adults with and without a lifetime history of depression demonstrated a difference in performance during dual tasking (walking while performing a working memory task). We predicted that individuals with history of depression would demonstrate greater dual task cost than those without history of depression. Participants and Methods: Eighty-three participants completed this study, ranging in age from 55-79. 34 participants had a history of depression (17 current, 17 remitted), while 49 participants had no history of depression and no other mental health condition. Groups were equivalent for age (M=64.67, SD=6.86), education (M=16.39, SD=2.22) and had equivalent male/female sex distribution (46 females). As part of a larger cognitive battery, participants performed three trials of walking 10m at comfortable gait speed with timing starting after crossing a 2m marker and stopping after crossing an 8m marker. For dual tasking, participants completed three trials of walking while reciting the sequence of the alphabet and skipping every second letter (trials began with A, B, and N, respectively) on a 6m flat walkway, walking around a cone, and finishing at the starting line. The timer and recitation of the alphabet started after the 2m marker and ended after they crossed the 2m marker on the way back. Average speed (meter/sec) was calculated for each single and dual task trial, then averaged together for single and dual task trials, respectively. Dual task cost was defined as (average dual task speed/m minus average single task speed/m)/ average single task speed/m. Univariate ANCOVA tested whether individuals with and without history of depression differed on dual task cost, covarying for sex, age, education, and depression symptom severity. Results: Contrary to our hypotheses, history of depression was not significantly associated with dual task cost on a measure of walking while performing a cognitive task, F(1, 82 =.043, p=.498). None of the covariates were significantly predictive of dual task cost (all ps>.01). Conclusions: This study demonstrated no significant difference in gait speed on a task of walking while performing a cognitive task relative to comfortable gait speed, among late middle-aged and older adults with and without history of depression. These results are contrary to prior literature demonstrating a relationship between depression and dual tasking (Nebes et al, 2001), although that study entailed a different type of dual task that did not involve walking and included only people with active-state depression. Prior work in our lab has demonstrated a stronger relationship between executive functioning and aspects of gait while performing a dual task among older adults with depression relative to those with no history of depression (Gabel et al., 2015). Thus, future studies will examine whether executive functioning on other cognitive tasks mediates any relationship between history of depression and dual tasking in older people.

Poster

02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes

Final Abstract #70

Dual Task Cost in Older Adults With and Without Lifetime History of Depression

Jeremy Maciarz, McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States
Vincent Koppelmans, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
Devan Palmer, McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States
Jack Kaufman, McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States
Megan Armstrong, Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook, United States
Sara Weisenbach, McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States

Category: Mood and Anxiety Disorders

Keyword 1: executive functions
Keyword 2: motor speed
Keyword 3: depression

Objective:

Dual tasking, coordinating simultaneous performance of more than one task, is one aspect of executive functioning. The current study examined whether late-middle-aged and older adults with and without a lifetime history of depression demonstrated a difference in performance during dual tasking (walking while performing a working memory task). We predicted that individuals with history of depression would demonstrate greater dual task cost than those without history of depression.

Participants and Methods:

Eighty-three participants completed this study, ranging in age from 55-79. 34 participants had a history of depression (17 current, 17 remitted), while 49 participants had no history of depression and no other mental health condition. Groups were equivalent for age (M=64.67, SD=6.86), education (M=16.39, SD=2.22) and had equivalent male/female sex distribution (46 females). As part of a larger cognitive battery, participants performed three trials of walking 10m at comfortable gait speed with timing starting after crossing a 2m marker and stopping after crossing an 8m marker. For dual tasking, participants completed three trials of walking while reciting the sequence of the alphabet and skipping every second letter (trials began with A, B, and N, respectively) on a 6m flat walkway, walking around a cone, and finishing at the starting line. The timer and recitation of the alphabet started after the 2m marker and ended after they crossed the 2m marker on the way back. Average speed (meter/sec) was calculated for each single and dual task trial, then averaged together for single and dual task trials, respectively. Dual task cost was defined as (average dual task speed/m minus average single task speed/m)/ average single task speed/m. Univariate ANCOVA tested whether individuals with and without history of depression differed on dual task cost, covarying for sex, age, education, and depression symptom severity.

Results:

Contrary to our hypotheses, history of depression was not significantly associated with dual task cost on a measure of walking while performing a cognitive task, F(1, 82 =.043, p=.498). None of the covariates were significantly predictive of dual task cost (all ps>.01).

Conclusions:

This study demonstrated no significant difference in gait speed on a task of walking while performing a cognitive task relative to comfortable gait speed, among late middle-aged and older adults with and without history of depression. These results are contrary to prior literature demonstrating a relationship between depression and dual tasking (Nebes et al, 2001), although that study entailed a different type of dual task that did not involve walking and included only people with active-state depression. Prior work in our lab has demonstrated a stronger relationship between executive functioning and aspects of gait while performing a dual task among older adults with depression relative to those with no history of depression (Gabel et al., 2015). Thus, future studies will examine whether executive functioning on other cognitive tasks mediates any relationship between history of depression and dual tasking in older people.