1Department of Health Sciences Research,

Background. The association between gait speed and cognition has been reported; however, there is limited knowl-edge about the temporal associations between gait slowing and cognitive decline among cognitively normal individuals. Methods. The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging is a population-based study of Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States, residents aged 70–89 years. This analysis included 1,478 cognitively normal participants who were evaluated every 15 months with a nurse visit, neurologic evaluation, and neuropsychological testing. The neuropsychological battery used nine tests to compute domain-specific (memory, language, executive function, and visuospatial skills) and global cognitive z-scores. Timed gait speed (m/s) was assessed over 25 feet (7.6 meters) at a usual pace. Using mixed models, we examined baseline gait speed (continuous and in quartiles) as a predictor of cognitive decline and baseline cognition as a predictor of gait speed changes controlling for demographics and medical conditions. Results. Cross-sectionally, faster gait speed was associated with better performance in memory, executive function