Associations between 10-second standing balance tests and mild cognitive impairment in older adults in Colombia: A cross-sectional national survey

Very little is known about the associations between balance and cognition in Latin America. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate associations between 10-second standing balance tests and mild cognitive impairment using data from a large nationally representative study of older adults in Colombia. The sample included 23,443 community-dwelling adults aged 71 (8) years [mean (SD)] from the National Survey of Health, Wellbeing and Ageing in Colombia. Trained interviewers collected the data in 2015. Mild cognitive impairment was defined as a score of 12 or less out of 19 on the shorter version of the mini-mental state examination used and validated in the region. Balance was assessed using three increasingly difficult standing balance tests: the feet-together test, the semi-tandem test, and the tandem test. Logistic regression models were adjusted for age, sex, education, smoking, civil status, diabetes, and physical activity. The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment was 20% in 23,443 participants who attempted the feet-together test, 16% in 20,943 who attempted the semi-tandem test, and 15% in 19,527 who attempted the tandem test. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for mild cognitive impairment was 0.43 (0.39, 0.48) for a successful feet-together test, 0.53 (0.46, 0.60) for a successful semi-tandem test, and 0.63 (0.57, 0.70) for a successful tandem test after adjusting for potential confounders [the p-value for each model was highly significant (all p < 0.001)]. There is a need for simple screening tools in Colombia and other countries in Latin America with limited resources. This study suggests that even the simplest of balance tests could be used to identify older adults at risk of mild cognitive impairment in Colombia. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these novel and important findings.