Disability Moderates Dual Task Walking Performance and Neural Efficiency in Older Adults With Multiple Sclerosis

Background Mobility and cognitive impairment are prevalent and co-occurring in older adults with multiple sclerosis (OAMS), yet there is limited research concerning the role of disability status in the cognitive control of gait among OAMS.Objective We investigated the levels of prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation, using oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2), during cognitively-demanding tasks in OAMS with lower and higher disability using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to: (1) identify PFC activation differences in single task walk and cognitively-demanding tasks in OAMS with different levels of disability; and (2) evaluate if disability may moderate practice-related changes in neural efficiency in OAMS.Methods We gathered data from OAMS with lower (n = 51, age = 65 +/- 4 years) or higher disability (n = 48, age = 65 +/- 5 years), using a cutoff of 3 or more, in the Patient Determined Disease Steps, for higher disability, under 3 different conditions (single-task walk, Single-Task-Alpha, and Dual-Task-Walk [DTW]) administered over 3 counterbalanced, repeated trials.Results OAMS who had a lower disability level exhibited decreased PFC activation levels during Single-Task-Walk (STW) and larger increases in PFC activation levels, when going from STW to a cognitively-demanding task, such as a DTW, than those with higher disability. OAMS with a lower disability level exhibited greater declines in PFC activation levels with additional within session practice than those with a higher disability level.Conclusions These findings suggest that disability moderates brain adaptability to cognitively-demanding tasks and demonstrate the potential for fNIRS-derived outcome measures to complement neurorehabilitation outcomes.