Validity of Functional Gait Assessment in Patients with Parkinson's Disease / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

@#Objective To investigate the construct and concurrent validity of the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) as the measure for balance and gait during walking in Parkinson's disease patients. Methods From March to December, 2011, 121 patients with Parkinson's disease (mean aged 61.9 years) were evaluated with FGA by one rater, as well as the other scales for balance and gait, such as Berg Balance Scale, Functional Ambulation Category, Timed Up and Go Test, Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale, Movement Disorders Society revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part 3, modified Barthel Index, maximum walking speed and Modified Hoehn and Yahr Scale. Principal Component Analysis was used to determine construct validity. Spearman correlation coefficients between the FGA and other measures were used to determine concurrent validity. Results One common factor was extracted, which cumulatively explained 64.0% of the total variance. The FGA correlated moderately with the other measures (r = 0.57-0.85). Conclusion FGA is good in validity for Parkinson's disease patients.