Influence of Cognitive Training on Fall Prevention in At Risk Older Adults

Approximately one in three older adults fall annually and it is the primary cause of traumatic injury in older adults. While exercise and balance programs have been shown to be effective in reducing fall risk, maintaining behavior change is known to be difficult. Thus additional interventions need to be validated to add to our current armamentarium to reduce falls in older adults. Cognitive training (CT) involves exercises that target specific cognitive tasks, such as memory or processing speed. It has been speculated that routinely performing such tasks may increase functional ability. Recent work has pointed to an increased risk of falls in community-dwelling older adults who have alterations in specific cognitive tasks. Thus the purpose of the proposed study is to demonstrate the feasibility and to explore the effectiveness of a 16 week CT intervention to reduce risk and incidence of fall and improve outcomes up to 1 month post-intervention in a group of community dwelling older adults at risk for fall.