Diabetic older women without peripheral neuropathy amplify body sway but are capable of improving postural stability during a saccadic gaze task

Background: Diabetic older people tend to present deteriorated performance in balance and locomotion activities, even those without peripheral neuropathy. There is evidence that saccadic eye movements are used to reduce body sway in young and older healthy adults, but it has not been shown that diab...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Rodrigues, Sérgio Tosi [UNESP], Delacosta, Thaís Cristina [UNESP], Barbieri, Fabio Augusto [UNESP], Paschoalino, Gabriel Palmeira [UNESP], Gotardi, Gisele Chiozi [UNESP], Barela, José Angelo [UNESP], Monteiro, Henrique Luís [UNESP], Bosqueiro, José Roberto [UNESP], Polastri, Paula Fávaro [UNESP]
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UNESP
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unesp.br:11449/304913
Acceso en línea:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2023.103153
https://hdl.handle.net/11449/304913
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Diabetes
Older women
Postural sway
Saccades
Vision
Descripción
Sumario:Background: Diabetic older people tend to present deteriorated performance in balance and locomotion activities, even those without peripheral neuropathy. There is evidence that saccadic eye movements are used to reduce body sway in young and older healthy adults, but it has not been shown that diabetic older people preserve this visuomotor adaptation capacity. Research question: Are diabetic older women without peripheral neuropathy capable of improving postural stability during a saccadic gaze task? Methods: Seventeen type 2 diabetic older women (68.2 ± 10.7 years old) and seventeen healthy women, age-matched controls (66.0 ± 8.4 years old) voluntarily participated in the study. All participants were instructed to stand upright, barefoot, as stable as possible, for 30 s. Participants maintained their feet parallel to each other, at standard and narrow bases of support, while either fixating on a stationary target (fixation condition) or performing horizontal saccadic eye movements to follow a target (eccentricity of 11° of visual angle), which continuously disappeared and reappeared immediately on the opposite side (saccade 0.5 Hz and saccade 1.1 Hz conditions). Results: Results indicated that the diabetic group clearly had deteriorated postural control, as shown by increased values of mean sway amplitude and mean sway velocity. However, diabetic and control groups were similarly capable of using saccadic eye movements to improve their postural stability, reducing their sway velocity compared to a gaze fixation condition. Significance: Diabetes per se (without peripheral neuropathy) amplifies postural sway of older women as compared to their healthy age-matched controls. However, diabetic older women without peripheral neuropathy are capable of improving postural stability during a saccadic gaze task.