Article

The current investigation examined whether patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD)
have reduced standing postural control performance during simultaneous cognitive
task performance (i.e. dual task cost (DTC)) compared to age-gender matched
controls. 19 persons undergoing HD and 19 age, gender, and body mass index (BMI)
matched controls participated in the investigation. All participants performed 2
trials of quiet standing balance and 2 postural trials in which they performed a
cognitive task. Postural control was indexed with various measures of the center
of pressure (COP) trajectory. The change in postural control with a cognitive
task (e.g. dual task cost DTC) was quantified as a change in the center of COP
parameters of postural control from quiet standing to the cognitive condition.
The primary observations were that (1) HD patients had significantly greater
postural sway than age, gender, BMI matched controls (p's < 0.05); (2) HD
patients had a greater DTC than the controls during quiet standing (p's < 0.05).
The observations highlight that HD participants have poor postural control that
is further exacerbated by a simultaneous performance of a cognitive task. It is
possible that this impaired postural control places HD participants at elevated
fall risk. Further study is necessary to determine contributing factors to an
increased DTC in this population and whether targeted interventions such as
exercise can reduce DTC.
CI - Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS