Citation

Duncan RP, Earhart GM. Parkinsons Dis. 2012; 2012: 923493.

Affiliation

Program in Physical Therapy, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Campus Box 8502, 4444 Forest Park Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1155/2012/923493

PMID

23213622

Abstract

Introduction. We aimed to determine whether gait velocity is as useful as a balance test, a self-report measure of freezing of gait (FOG), and/or a measure of motor symptom severity for predicting falls among people with Parkinson Disease (PD). Methods. Fifty-six individuals with idiopathic PD completed a baseline assessment consisting of these measures: (1) MDS-UPDRS III, (2) Mini-BESTest, (3) gait velocity (forward, backward, dual task, and fast), and (4) FOGQ. Retrospective fall history was collected at baseline and six months later. Participants were considered fallers if they had two or more falls in the surveillance period. Ability of the tests to discriminate between fallers and nonfallers was determined using ROC curves followed by pairwise statistical noninferiority comparisons (P = .05) of the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for each test. Results. At six months, 22% (n = 21) of the sample were fallers. Fallers differed significantly from nonfallers on the MDS-UPDRS III, Mini-BESTest, backward gait velocity, and FOGQ. The Mini-BESTest had the highest AUC and was superior to all gait velocity measures at identifying fallers. Conclusion. A single measure of gait velocity, even in a challenging condition, may not be as effective as the Mini-BESTest in identifying fallers among people with PD.

Language: en