Zhao HY, Zhang ZQ, Huang YH, Li H, Wei FY. Performance of the walking trail making test in older adults with white matter hyperintensities. World J Psychiatry 2024; 14(1): 102-110 [PMID: 38327891 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i1.102]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Fang-Yuan Wei, MD, PhD, Director, Department of Hand and Foot Surgery, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Third Affiliated Hospital, No. 51 Xiaoguan Street, Andingmenwai, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China. footwfy@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Clinical Neurology
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatry. Jan 19, 2024; 14(1): 102-110 Published online Jan 19, 2024. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i1.102
Performance of the walking trail making test in older adults with white matter hyperintensities
Hong-Yi Zhao, Zhi-Qiang Zhang, Yong-Hua Huang, Hong Li, Fang-Yuan Wei
Hong-Yi Zhao, Department of Neurology, No. 984 Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100094, China
Hong-Yi Zhao, Yong-Hua Huang, Department of Neurology, The Seventh Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100700, China
Zhi-Qiang Zhang, Mental Health Institute of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, The Third Hospital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hohhot 010010, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Hong Li, Department of Neurosurgery, No. 984 Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100094, China
Fang-Yuan Wei, Department of Hand and Foot Surgery, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Third Affiliated Hospital, Beijing 100029, China
Fang-Yuan Wei, Engineering Research Center of Chinese Orthopaedic and Sports Rehabilitation Artificial Intelligent, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100029, China
Co-first authors: Hong-Yi Zhao and Zhi-Qiang Zhang.
Author contributions: Zhao HY and Zhang ZQ were responsible for data collection, analysis and writing of the actual manuscript; Wei FY was responsible for study design; Huang YH and Li H were responsible for manuscript preparation.
Supported byThe Wu Jieping Medical Foundation, No. 320.6750.18456.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Seventh Medical Center of PLA General Hospital ethics committee, reference number: (2021) Ethics Review (015).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: Dataset available from the corresponding author at huangyonghua2017@126.com.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fang-Yuan Wei, MD, PhD, Director, Department of Hand and Foot Surgery, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Third Affiliated Hospital, No. 51 Xiaoguan Street, Andingmenwai, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China. footwfy@126.com
Received: August 26, 2023 Peer-review started: August 26, 2023 First decision: September 29, 2023 Revised: October 30, 2023 Accepted: December 21, 2023 Article in press: December 21, 2023 Published online: January 19, 2024 Processing time: 145 Days and 11.4 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
The early detection of the white matter hyperintensities (WMH) is difficult in clinical practice, and dual task has been confirmed as a useful tool.
Research motivation
Trail making test (TMT), a commonly used paper-and-pencil cognitive function test, is now modified into different versions. Walking TMT (WTMT) is a modified TMT incorporates a cognitive task and concurrent walking.
Research objectives
The aim of the current study was to assess the gait characteristics of elderly individuals with WMH using the WTMT task.
Research methods
The WTMT was conducted in a 16 m2 square area (4 m × 4 m). Each participant need to walk according to the coins randomly distributed as TMT-A and TMT-B to complete this task.
Research results
The WMH group also required significantly more time to complete the WTMT-A and WTMT-B.
Research conclusions
Older adults with WMH showed obviously poorer WTMT performance.
Research perspectives
Notably, the TMT has been modified in different ways by multiple research groups previously (e.g., WTMT, oral TMT, driving TMT), and alternative evaluation systems for the TMT also have been reported (e.g., error analysis, derived TMT indices). From our point of view, delta TMT is a good indicator of executive function. Thus, delta WTMT might be another effective tool for detecting the cognitive profile of WMH and neuropsychological features of subcortical vascular dementia in the future.
