This study aimed to identify whether differences in agility performance exist among healthy young adults (HY), healthy elderly (HE), and elderly individuals with MCI. The objective was to determine the effects of aging and cognitive decline on agility.
Sixty-three subjects were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. All the participants in the HY group (n=26), HE group (n=20) and MCI group (n=17) completed the Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE) assessment twice. The ACE which consists of three segments focusing on different aspects of agility: (A) stop-and-go, (B) change of direction and (C) spatial orientation. The time taken for each segment and the total time were recorded as outcome measures. For group comparisons, the best performance was used for analysis. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to assess group differences, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for variables that were not normally distributed. Statistical significance was set at p0.05.
At baseline, significant differences were found among the three groups (p0.005) in terms of mean age (23.3±0.3y; 70.4±0.9y and 74.24±1.0y), MMSE (29.9±0.1; 29.6±0.2 and 27.9±0.4) and MoCA scores (29.3±0.2; 28.7±0.3 and 23.6±0.3). When comparing agility performance among the groups, significant differences were observed between the HY group and both the HE and MCI groups across all segments (A, B, C) and the total test time (all p0.0005). Additionally, the HE group showed a significant difference compared to the MCI group in segment B (p=0.025). In the test-retest results, significant improvements were observed in the HY group for the total time and segment C (p=0.001 for both). The HE group demonstrated significant improvement in segment A and B (p=0.001; 0.004), whereas the MCI group showed no significant improvement across any of the segments.
The HY group exhibited superior agility performance compared to both the HE and MCI groups across all segments of ACE, while the HE group also performed better than the MCI group, particularly in segment B. Notably, the MCI group showed no improvements between test and retest agility tasks.
Agility decline, particularly in the elderly population with MCI, is an issue that requires attention. The MCI group was unable to improve their performance on agility tasks, even after repeated trials, and they performed worse compared to their healthy elderly peers. This suggests that agility training may be essential for older adults, especially those with MCI.
Agility Ability
Mild Cognitive Impairments
