Proxy measures of cognitive reserve and trajectories of gait and cognitive decline in older adults

Lifestyle interventions are an emerging area of interest in dementia prevention. Education, physical activity, and social interactions are potentially modifiable lifestyle factors that are considered proxies of cognitive reserve. People with greater cognitive reserve could be protected against decline in gait and cognition, two interrelated problems associated with dementia, by coping better with age‐ or pathology‐related brain changes. We examined whether decline in gait and cognitive functions are different in those with higher versus lower levels of education, physical activity, and social interactions.