Rhythmic Auditory Cueing of Gait in Older People with Cognitive Impairment: A scoping review protocol

Objective: This scoping review aims to explore published evidence concerning rhythmic auditory cueing (RAC) of gait in older adults with cognitive impairment. Introduction: Cognitive impairment is common among older adults and is associated with slower walking speed and greater gait variability. Gait performance under RAC in those with cognitive impairment is yet to be fully explored. Inclusion criteria: The review will consider studies that include participants ≥ 60 years with cognitive impairment, and that measure gait performance under a RAC condition. Book chapters, dissertations, and conference abstracts will be excluded. Methods: We will search electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE via Ovid) to identify studies that meet the eligibility criteria. Published review papers will be examined to uncover relevant additional original studies not identified during the database searches. Only publications in the English language will be included with no publication time limitation. Keywords of 'auditory cueing', 'gait', 'old age', and 'cognitive impairment', including synonyms and derivatives, will be used in the search strategy. Two reviewers will perform screening of the studies and data extraction. The results will be presented in a data extraction table with narrative analysis. The final review will be presented for publication.