| Poster | Poster Session 10 Program Schedule
02/17/2024
09:00 am - 10:15 am
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)
Poster Session 10: Neurodevelopmental | Congenital Conditions
Final Abstract #81
White Matter Integrity and Gait Variability in Individuals with Down Syndrome
Mallory Richert, Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
Elizabeth Leach, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Center (MRISC), University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
David Powell, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Center (MRISC), University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
Ahmed Bahrani, Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
Kathryn Van Pelt, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
Jordan Harp, Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
Frederick Schmitt, Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
Category: Autism Spectrum Disorders/Developmental Disorders/Intellectual Disability
Keyword 1: dementia - Alzheimer's disease
Keyword 2: neuroimaging: structural
Objective:
People with Down syndrome (DS; trisomy 21) carry higher risk and pathologic burden of Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD) relative to the general population. Gait degradation is associated with severity of ADRD, from preclinical stages through more advanced stages of dementia. This study investigated associations between cerebral white matter connectivity and spatial/temporal gait movement parameters in participants with DS ranging in diagnosis from cognitively stable to dementia.
Participants and Methods:
Participants were drawn from an ongoing study of ADRD biomarkers in adults with Down syndrome (Alzheimer Biomarkers Consortium—Down Syndrome; ABC-DS). A subsample of adults (ages 26-60) with DS (n = 34) completed both gait and MRI procedures. The final sample was 25 participants (age mean = 37.38, SD = 7.26; male sex = 52%) after exclusions (brain injury history: n = 1; significate motion artifact in imaging n = 8). During a self-paced walking task, gait parameters were measured using the GAITRite temporospatial gait analysis system. Variables collected included stride length, mean normalized velocity, and step time. White matter integrity was assessed using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which included 61 total volumes per scan. A correlational analysis of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) with gait parameters was completed.
Results:
Linear regression results showed associations of FA with normalized velocity (p < 0.05) and step time (p < 0.05), but not with stride length. Correlations of MD with gait parameters were not significant. Controlling for age and sex, there remained a positive correlation between FA and normalized velocity, and a negative correlation between FA and step time standard deviation. Regions of interest for this correlation are detailed, including the forceps major and minor, genu and splenium of the corpus callosum, anterior internal capsule and corona radiata, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, and connected regions of cortex such as cingulate gyrus, precuneus, and central operculum.
Conclusions:
Better white matter integrity, as indexed by FA, was associated with higher normalized gait speed and lower variability in step time. These results suggest that white matter pathology may be a driving factor in gait degradation in adults with DS, specifically impacting temporal rather than spatial gait parameters. Future studies may include a larger sample size and more systematic approaches to reducing motion artifacts for DTI.
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