Standing balance in individuals with Parkinson's disease during single and dual-task conditions

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2015

Authors

Ângela Fernandes (Author) Other; Tiago Coelho (Author) Other; Ana Vitória (Author) Other; Augusto Ferreira (Author) Other; Rubim Santos (Author) Other; Nuno Rocha (Author) Other; Lia Fernandes (Author) FMUP; João Manuel R. S. Tavares (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: GAIT & POSTURE

Vol. 42 No. 3

Pages: 323-328

ISSN: 0966-6362

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 22 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 29 Citations

Scientific classification

CORDIS: Health sciences

FOS: Medical and Health sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00G-NWV

DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2015.06.188

Abstract (EN): This study aimed to examine the differences in standing balance between individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and subjects without PD (control group), under single and dual-task conditions. A cross-sectional study was designed using a non-probabilistic sample of 110 individuals (50 participants with PD and 60 controls) aged 50 years old and over. The individuals with PD were in the early or middle stages of the disease (characterized by Hoehn and Yahr as stages 1-3). The standing balance was assessed by measuring the centre of pressure (Cop) displacement in single-task (eyes-open/eyes-closed) and dual-task (while performing two different verbal fluency tasks). No significant differences were found between the groups regarding sociodemographic variables. In general, the standing balance of the individuals with PD was worse than the controls, as the COP displacement across tasks was significantly higher for the individuals with PD (p < 0.01), both in anteroposterior and mediolateral directions. Moreover, there were significant differences in the CoP displacement based parameters between the conditions, mainly between the eyes-open condition and the remaining conditions. However, there was no significant interaction found between group and condition, which suggests that changes in the CoP displacement between tasks were not influenced by having PD. In conclusion, this study shows that, although individuals with PD had a worse overall standing balance than individuals without the disease, the impact of performing an additional task on the CoP displacement is similar for both groups.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 6