To investigate gait kinematics during single- and dual-task walking in glaucoma patients compared with healthy controls.
Nineteen glaucoma patients (10 females, 9 males) and 30 healthy controls (17 females, 13 males) participated in this cross-sectional study. Spatiotemporal gait parameters (e.g., stride length, velocity, minimum toe clearance [MTC]) were assessed using inertial measurement units (sampling frequency 100 Hz) during single-task walking and dual-task walking at a comfortable velocity. During dual-task walking, participants walked and concurrently performed different cognitive tasks in a random order: (i) reaction time task, (ii) N-Back-task, and (iii) letter fluency task with two difficulty levels, respectively. Repeated measures analyses of covariance (Group × Condition) were conducted to analyze the data.
A significant effect of group was found for the coefficient of variation (CoV) of the MTC, F(1,39) = 4.504, P = 0.040, = 0.104, with higher values in glaucoma patients. Based on the effect sizes, a main effect of group was also found for the MTC, F(1,39) = 2.668, P = 0.110, = 0.064, and the MTC CoV dual-task costs, F(1,38) = 3.225, P = 0.08, = 0.078, which was lower and higher, respectively, in glaucoma patients.