Review Article

Age-Related Deficits of Dual-Task Walking: A Review

Table 1

Summary of main characteristics of the studies included in this review.

Reference GroupsmDTC (%)Dual-tasksOutcomeSignificance
YoungOlderWalking taskSecondary task

Lajoie et al. 1996 [29]young: (  y)
old: (  y)
0.992.63normal pace walkingmanual task: reaction timevelocity (m/s)n.s.
Lindenberger et al. 2000 [39] young: (  y)
middle: (  y)
old: (  y)
14.026.5normal pace walking (straight and curved narrow path)visuospatial decision taskvelocity (m/s)**
Sparrow et al. 2006 [59] young: (26.3 y)
old:
(71.1 y)
1.513.94normal pace walking on a treadmillmanual task: reaction timevelocity (m/s)n.s.
Li et al. 2001 [42] young: (  y)
old: (  y)
26.044.0normal pace walking (wide path)visuospatial decision taskvelocity (m/s)***
Springer et al. 2006 [44] young: (  y)
fallers: (  y)
non-fallers: (  y)
9.2513.61normal pace walkingarithmetic task: counting backwards by 7velocity (m/s)n.s.
Bock 2008 [57] young: ( y)
old: ( y)
26.034.0normal pace walking (narrow path)manual task: checkingvelocity (m/s)***
Loevdén et al. 2008 [60] young: ( y)
old: ( y)
9.939.64slow and normal pace walking (wide path)arithmetic task: counting backwards by 1–4velocity SD (m/s)n.s.
Bock and Beurskens 2011 [63] young: ( y)
old: ( y)
6.0112.46normal pace walking (narrow path)manual task: checkingvelocity (m/s)***
Krampe et al. 2011 [41] young: ( y)
old: ( y)
4.257.75normal pace walking (narrow path)verbal task:
word fluency
missteps (%)*
Bock and Beurskens 2011 [64] young: ( y)
old: ( y)
18.3832.28normal pace walking (wide path)visuospatial decision taskstep duration (s)***
Beurskens and Bock 2011 [61] young: ( y)
old: ( y)
6.8417.41normal pace walking (narrow path)visuospatial reading taskvelocity (m/s)*