Impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women: a comparative fNIRS study of osteoarthritis and healthy aging
IntroductionOsteoarthritis (OA), a prevalent musculoskeletal condition, is associated with an increased risk of falls. Maintaining posture relies on visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs, but these systems can be compromised due to aging or disease, heightening fall risk. Such impairments ma...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience |
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| author | Alka Bishnoi Yang Hu Manuel E. Hernandez Manuel E. Hernandez |
| author_facet | Alka Bishnoi Yang Hu Manuel E. Hernandez Manuel E. Hernandez |
| author_sort | Alka Bishnoi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionOsteoarthritis (OA), a prevalent musculoskeletal condition, is associated with an increased risk of falls. Maintaining posture relies on visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs, but these systems can be compromised due to aging or disease, heightening fall risk. Such impairments may result from neuromuscular decline and reduced cognitive or visuospatial processing abilities. This study aimed to investigate prefrontal cortical (PFC) activation patterns during clinical sensory organization tasks (SOT) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in older women with OA and healthy controls (HOA). We hypothesized that PFC activation would increase as SOT conditions became more challenging, but that increases would be limited in OA, relative to HOA, given a decreased attentional capacity due to chronic pain.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with 10 women with OA (65.7 ± 3.01 years) and 11 HOA (66.0 ± 4.86 years). Baseline cognitive and motor assessments preceded three trials of six SOT conditions.ResultsSignificant differences between groups in BMI, WOMAC pain score, repeated chair stand, and TUG scores were found (p < 0.001). Linear mixed-model analysis revealed significant effects of condition (CND; p < 0.001), trial (TR; p < 0.0001), and interactions between CND*TR (p < 0.01) and Cohort*CND (p < 0.01) on PFC activation.DiscussionIn conclusion, both groups demonstrated increased PFC activation with task difficulty. However, OA participants exhibited diminished capacity to recruit additional attentional resources compared to HOA, emphasizing the need for further research with larger cohorts to elucidate these findings. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-eb9e0a31cc6441daa068b1fa0b3e8f66 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1663-4365 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj-art-eb9e0a31cc6441daa068b1fa0b3e8f662025-08-20T03:25:42ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience1663-43652025-06-011710.3389/fnagi.2025.15834471583447Impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women: a comparative fNIRS study of osteoarthritis and healthy agingAlka Bishnoi0Yang Hu1Manuel E. Hernandez2Manuel E. Hernandez3The College of Health Professions and Human Services, Department of Physical Therapy, Kean University, Union, NJ, United StatesDepartment of Kinesiology, College of Health and Human Sciences, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, United StatesCarle Illinois College of Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United StatesCollege of Applied Health Sciences, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United StatesIntroductionOsteoarthritis (OA), a prevalent musculoskeletal condition, is associated with an increased risk of falls. Maintaining posture relies on visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs, but these systems can be compromised due to aging or disease, heightening fall risk. Such impairments may result from neuromuscular decline and reduced cognitive or visuospatial processing abilities. This study aimed to investigate prefrontal cortical (PFC) activation patterns during clinical sensory organization tasks (SOT) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in older women with OA and healthy controls (HOA). We hypothesized that PFC activation would increase as SOT conditions became more challenging, but that increases would be limited in OA, relative to HOA, given a decreased attentional capacity due to chronic pain.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with 10 women with OA (65.7 ± 3.01 years) and 11 HOA (66.0 ± 4.86 years). Baseline cognitive and motor assessments preceded three trials of six SOT conditions.ResultsSignificant differences between groups in BMI, WOMAC pain score, repeated chair stand, and TUG scores were found (p < 0.001). Linear mixed-model analysis revealed significant effects of condition (CND; p < 0.001), trial (TR; p < 0.0001), and interactions between CND*TR (p < 0.01) and Cohort*CND (p < 0.01) on PFC activation.DiscussionIn conclusion, both groups demonstrated increased PFC activation with task difficulty. However, OA participants exhibited diminished capacity to recruit additional attentional resources compared to HOA, emphasizing the need for further research with larger cohorts to elucidate these findings.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2025.1583447/fullnear infrared spectroscopyprefrontal cortexosteoarthritissensory organization taskbalance |
| spellingShingle | Alka Bishnoi Yang Hu Manuel E. Hernandez Manuel E. Hernandez Impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women: a comparative fNIRS study of osteoarthritis and healthy aging Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience near infrared spectroscopy prefrontal cortex osteoarthritis sensory organization task balance |
| title | Impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women: a comparative fNIRS study of osteoarthritis and healthy aging |
| title_full | Impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women: a comparative fNIRS study of osteoarthritis and healthy aging |
| title_fullStr | Impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women: a comparative fNIRS study of osteoarthritis and healthy aging |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women: a comparative fNIRS study of osteoarthritis and healthy aging |
| title_short | Impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women: a comparative fNIRS study of osteoarthritis and healthy aging |
| title_sort | impact of sensory organization tasks on prefrontal cortex activity in older women a comparative fnirs study of osteoarthritis and healthy aging |
| topic | near infrared spectroscopy prefrontal cortex osteoarthritis sensory organization task balance |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2025.1583447/full |
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