Performance of the walking trail making test in older adults with white matter hyperintensities

Table 1 Clinical and demographic characteristics of the participants (mean ± SD)

	WMH group (n = 25)	HE group (n = 20)	P value
Age, years	74.00 ± 5.40	75.30 ± 4.26	0.385
Male, %	48%	35%	0.392
Education, years	8.00 ± 2.34	8.05 ± 2.28	0.943
MMSE, score	28.00 ± 1.15	28.10 ± 1.10	0.883
CRT, seconds	0.51 ± 0.09	0.44 ± 0.06	0.007
cVFT, words	14.20 ± 2.75	16.65 ± 3.54	0.012
DSST, counts	16.00 ± 2.75	18.40 ± 3.27	0.010
AVLTh, words	7.60 ± 1.83	8.25 ± 1.20	0.178
WTMT-A, seconds	93.00 ± 10.76	70.55 ± 11.28	< 0.001
WTMT-B, seconds	109.72 ± 12.26	82.85 ± 7.90	< 0.001
Fazekas, score	1.52 ± 0.71	0.00 ± 0.00	< 0.001

MMSE: Mini-mental state examination; CRT: Choice reaction test; cVFT: Category verbal fluency test; DSST: Digit symbol substitution test; AVLTh: Auditory verbal learning test-huashan; WTMT: Walking trail making test; WMH: White matter hyperintensities; HE: Healthy.

Table 2 Partial Pearson correlation between cognitive function and walking trail making test

	WTMT-A		WTMT-B
	r value	P value	r value	P value
MMSE	0.060	0.697	0.190	0.212
CRT	0.460	0.001	0.254	0.092
cVFT	-0.157	0.303	-0.391	0.008
DSST	-0.264	0.080	-0.207	0.172
AVLTh	-0.024	0.874	-0.267	0.076

Adjustment for age, sex, and educational level. MMSE: Mini-mental state examination; CRT: Choice reaction test; cVFT: Category verbal fluency test; DSST: Digit symbol substitution test; AVLTh: Auditory verbal learning test-huashan.

Table 3 Gait analysis of the participants in walking trail making test (mean ± SD)

	WMH group (n = 25)	HE group (n = 20)	P value
WTMT-A
Speed, m/s	0.803 ± 0.096	0.975 ± 0.050	< 0.001
Step length, m	0.486 ± 0.035	0.484 ± 0.038	0.820
Cadence, steps/min	86.520 ± 5.730	89.050 ± 5.671	0.127
Stance phase percentage, %	63.189 ± 1.147	63.737 ± 1.231	0.130
WTMT-B
Speed, m/s	0.778 ± 0.111	0.970 ± 0.054	< 0.001
Step length, m	0.468 ± 0.041	0.473 ± 0.041	0.713
Cadence, steps/min	82.600 ± 4.140	85.500 ± 5.020	0.039
Stance phase percentage, %	65.061 ± 1.813	63.513 ± 2.465	0.019

WTMT: Walking trail making test; WMH: White matter hyperintensities; HE: Healthy.