Cognitive and motor impairments predict functional declines in patients with vascular dementia

BACKGROUND: Vascular dementia (VaD) is associated with impairments in cognitive, motor, and functional domains. Patients with VaD display diverse cognitive and motor deficits, however, and relationships between these impairments and independent living abilities remain unclear. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the contributions made by attentional/executive and motor functions in the prediction of basic and instrumental activities of daily living in 32 patients with VaD. We hypothesized that: (a) motor abilities would emerge as a significant predictor of basic activities of daily living, whereas attentional/executive abilities would not, and (b) both motor and attentional/executive abilities would emerge as significant predictors of instrumental activities of daily living. RESULTS: Stepwise regression analyses revealed that motor performance, but not attentional/executive abilities, accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in basic activities of daily living, and that both motor and attentional/executive abilities contributed significantly to the prediction of instrumental activities of daily living. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that attentional/executive and motor impairments may underlie specific aspects of functional disability among patients with VaD.