Session Information
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Session Title: Phenomenology and clinical assessment of movement disorders
Session Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: To examine the association of self-perceived balance confidence level with postural control, gait and the quality of life in Parkinson’s disease (PD) people on early stage.
Background: Postural instability is a disabling symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD) that can leads to self-induced restricted mobility, social isolation, increased fall risk, depression, and reduced quality of life for PD patients. People with PD may develop fear of falling (FoF) that can preced the prejudice of postural control and gait. Furthermore, FoF can be as or more psychologically harmful than the experience of a fall itself.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, in which 14 individuals with idiopathic PD of both genders, mean age of 68.1 [standard deviation (SD 7.6)] years, on stages 1 to 2.5 on the Hoehn and Yahr scale, mean score 15.6 (SD 6.7) on section III of Unified Parkinson’s disease rating scale and 28.0 (1.8) on Mini-Mental State Examination, underwent a motor and quality of life assessment during on phase of dopaminergic replacement. Postural control was assessed through Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest); Gait was assessed with the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) and the balance self perception with the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC). Quality of life was evaluated trough the Parkinson’s disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). In order to analyse the association among variables, it was used the Pearson correlation test, adopting alpha=0.05.
Results: The means scores and standard deviation of the variables were: ABC 100.71 (7.32), Mini-BESTest 21.21 (0.82); DGI 19.64 (0.74) and PDQ-39 50.99 (4.30). ABC showed strong negative correlation with PDQ-39 (r=-0.80; p=0.01), moderate positive correlation with DGI (r=0.64; p=0.01) and weak positive correlation with Mini-BESTest (r=0.47; p=0.05).
Conclusions: The self-perceived balance confidence level in performing specific activities without losing balance or becoming unsteady assessed through the ABC scale showed association with postural control, gait and quality of life of PD patients.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J.E. Pompeu, K.G. Silva, T.B. Freitas, F. Doná, C. Torriani-Pasin, R.A. Nuvolini. Correlation between self-perceived balance confidence, postural control, gait and quality of life of individuals with Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/correlation-between-self-perceived-balance-confidence-postural-control-gait-and-quality-of-life-of-individuals-with-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/correlation-between-self-perceived-balance-confidence-postural-control-gait-and-quality-of-life-of-individuals-with-parkinsons-disease/