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From the Departments of Neurology (Drs. Smith, Slevin, Schmitt, and Markesbery), Anatomy & Neurobiology (Drs. Smith, Umberger, Manning, Zhang, and Gash), Pathology (Dr. Markesbery), and Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (Drs. Smith, Wekstein, Schmitt, Markesbery, and Kryscio), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY; the Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry (Dr. Gerhardt), Neuroscience Training Program and Rocky Mountain Center for Sensor Technology, University of Colorado Health Science Center, Denver, CO; and the Department of Statistics (Dr. Kryscio), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Charles D. Smith, Room 113, MRISC Bldg., University of Kentucky Medical Center, 800 Rose Street, Lexington, KY 40536; e-mail: csmith{at}mri.uky.edu
BACKGROUND: Slowing of motor movements in human aging is a well-known occurrence, but its biologic basis is poorly understood. Reliable quantitation may refine observations of this phenomenon to better aid research on this entity.
METHODS: A panel equipped with timing sensors under computer control was used to measure upper extremity movement times in two groups of healthy individuals: adults younger than 60 years of age (n = 56; range, 18–58 years) and adults older than 60 years of age (n = 38; range, 61–94 years).
RESULTS: Fine motor performance was better in the dominant hand (p = 0.0007) regardless of age. Adult and aged groups differed on two basic timing measures, which reflect coarse motor and fine motor performance (p < 0.0001). There were no gender differences on either measure. There was a strong effect of task difficulty with age on coarse motor (p < 0.01) and fine motor (p < 0.0001) measures. The fine motor measure of hand performance in healthy individuals correlated in a nonlinear fashion with age for more difficult tasks (r2 = 0.63) but showed a simple linear relation for less-demanding tasks (r2 = 0.5).
CONCLUSION: This technique sensitively detects age-related motor performance decline in humans. There may be a critical period in late midlife when fine motor performance decline either begins or abruptly worsens.
Key words: Aging—Human—Movement.
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