The competition with a concurrent cognitive task affects posturographic measures in patients with Parkinson disease / A competição com uma tarefa cognitiva afeta medidas posturográficas de pacientes com doença de Parkinson

ABSTRACTObjectives To estimate the impact of a sensory-motor- cognitive task on postural balance, in Parkinson disease patients (Hoehn and Yahr 2-3) and to investigate possible relationships between posturography and functional balance clinical scales.Method Parkinson disease patients (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 27) were evaluated with fluency tests, Berg Balance scale, Mini Best test and static posturography on the conditions eyes open, eyes closed and dual-task (simultaneous balance and fluency tasks).Results Posturographic data showed that Parkinson disease patients performed worse than controls in all evaluations. In general, balance on dual-task was significantly poorer than balance with eyes closed. Posturographic data were weakly correlated to clinical balance scales.Conclusion In clinical practice, Parkinson disease patients are commonly assessed with eyes closed, to sensitize balance. Our study showed that adding a cognitive task is even more effective. Static posturographic data should be carefully overgeneralized to infer functional balance impairments.

RESUMOObjetivos Estimar o impacto de uma tarefa sensório-cognitivo-motora no equilíbrio, em pacientes com doença de Parkinson e investigar possíveis relações entre dados posturográficos e escalas de equilíbrio funcional.Método Pacientes (n = 40) e controles (n = 27) foram avaliados com testes de fluência verbal, escala de equilíbrio de Berg (BBS), Mini Best Test (MBT) e posturografia estática nas condições olhos abertos, olhos fechados e tarefa-dupla (equilíbrio e fluência verbal, simultaneamente).Resultados Dados posturográficos mostraram que pacientes apresentaram pior desempenho que controles em todas as avaliações. O equilíbrio na dupla-tarefa foi pior que na privação visual. Dados posturográficos apresentaram correlações fracas com a a BBS e MBT.Conclusão Pacientes com Parkinson são comumente avaliados com olhos fechados para sensibilizar o equilíbrio. Nosso estudo mostra que a adição de uma tarefa cognitiva é mais efetiva. Dados da posturografia estática devem ser generalizados com cuidado nas interferências sobre equilíbrio.

The competition with a concurrent cognitive task affects posturographic measures in patients with Parkinson disease.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the impact of a sensory-motor- cognitive task on postural balance, in Parkinson disease patients (Hoehn and Yahr 2-3) and to investigate possible relationships between posturography and functional balance clinical scales. METHOD: Parkinson disease patients (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 27) were evaluated with fluency tests, Berg Balance scale, Mini Best test and static posturography on the conditions eyes open, eyes closed and dual-task (simultaneous balance and fluency tasks). RESULTS: Posturographic data showed that Parkinson disease patients performed worse than controls in all evaluations. In general, balance on dual-task was significantly poorer than balance with eyes closed. Posturographic data were weakly correlated to clinical balance scales. CONCLUSION: In clinical practice, Parkinson disease patients are commonly assessed with eyes closed, to sensitize balance. Our study showed that adding a cognitive task is even more effective. Static posturographic data should be carefully overgeneralized to infer functional balance impairments.

Influence of educational status on executive function and functional balance in individuals with Parkinson disease.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether educational status influenced how people with Parkinson disease (PD) performed on Parts A, B, and DELTA of the Trail Making Test (TMT) and on the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that educational status may influence cognitive and motor test performance. METHODS: We gave the TMT and the BBS to assess executive function and functional balance in 28 people with PD (Hoehn and Yahr score between 2 and 3) and 30 healthy elderly people. Participants reported their number of years of formal education. We divided each group of participants by educational status: low (4 to 10 years of education) or high (≥11 years). RESULTS: In both the PD (P=0.018) and control (P=0.003) groups, participants with low educational status performed worse on the TMT Part B than did those with high educational status. Within the PD group, the less-educated participants scored worse on the BBS than did the more educated (P<0.001); this difference was not significant between the more- and less-educated controls (P=0.976). CONCLUSIONS: Whether or not they had PD, less-educated people performed worse than more-educated people on the TMT Part B. Educational status affected executive function, but PD status did not. Among individuals with PD, educational status influenced functional balance.