Introduction:

Aging is linked to a higher prevalence of cognitive impairment. Seniors presenting with loss of cognitive functions have high fall rates. The development of activities of daily living encompasses two or more tasks that require cognitive and motor components.

Objective:

To analyze the performance in simple and dual tasks of subjects living in a residential environment with different degrees of cognitive impairment.

Materials and methods:

An observational cross-sectional study was performed in a population of institutionalized elderly >65 years (n=80). Cognitive impairment was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination and participants were asked to perform simple and dual tasks using the Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) and Timed Up and Go (TUG).

Results:

The participants were divided into three groups. Significant differences were found between the groups with cognitive impairment and the group without cognitive impairment in the 6MWT (p<0.05) and TUG (p<0.05) tests, both in simple task and dual tasks. Poorer performance was associated with lower cognitive capacity.

Conclusion:

The severity of cognitive impairment is correlated to performance in dual tasks.

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