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. 2013:2013:141720.
doi: 10.1155/2013/141720. Epub 2013 Jun 5.

Predictors of gait speeds and the relationship of gait speeds to falls in men and women with Parkinson disease

Samuel T Nemanich  1 , Ryan P Duncan, Leland E Dibble, James T Cavanaugh, Terry D Ellis, Matthew P Ford, Kenneth B Foreman, Gammon M Earhart
Affiliations

Predictors of gait speeds and the relationship of gait speeds to falls in men and women with Parkinson disease

Samuel T Nemanich et al. Parkinsons Dis. 2013.

Abstract

Gait difficulties and falls are commonly reported in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Reduction in gait speed is a major characteristic of Parkinsonian gait, yet little is known about its underlying determinants, its ability to reflect an internal reservation about walking, or its relationship to falls. To study these issues, we selected age, disease severity, and nonmotor factors (i.e., depression, quality of life, balance confidence, and exercise beliefs and attitudes) to predict self-selected (SELF), fast-as-possible (FAST), and the difference (DIFF) between these walking speeds in 78 individuals with PD. We also examined gender differences in gait speeds and evaluated how gait speeds were related to a retrospective fall report. Age, disease severity, and balance confidence were strong predictors of SELF, FAST, and, to a lesser extent, DIFF. All three parameters were strongly associated with falling. DIFF was significantly greater in men compared to women and was significantly associated with male but not female fallers. The results supported the clinical utility of using a suite of gait speed parameters to provide insight into the gait difficulties and differentiating between fallers in people with PD.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
ROC curves for SELF (black), FAST (red), and DIFF (green) predicting fallers in the total sample. DIFF was also used to predict fallers, respectively, in men (blue) and women (cyan). SELF and FAST were strong predictors of fallers in the pooled sample. DIFF was a strong predictor of fallers in men but not women (see Table 5 for AUC, sensitivity, and specificity values).
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