Falls in Parkinson's Disease Subtypes: Risk Factors, Locations and Circumstances

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2019 Jun 26

PMID 31234571

Citations 71

Authors

Paulo H S Pelicioni

Jasmine C Menant

Mark D Latt

Stephen R Lord

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

People with Parkinson's disease (PD) can be classified into those with postural instability and gait difficulty (PIGD subtype) and those manifesting tremor as the main symptoms (non-PIGD subtype). In a prospective cohort study of 113 people with PD we aimed to contrast fall rates and circumstances as well as a range of disease-related, clinical, and functional measures between the PD subtypes. Compared with non-PIGD participants, PIGD participants were significantly more likely to suffer more falls overall as well as more falls due to freezing of gait, balance-related falls and falls at home. The PIGD group also performed significantly worse in a range of fall-related clinical and functional measures including general cognitive status, executive function, quadriceps muscle strength, postural sway and the timed up and go test. These findings document the extent to which people with the PIGD subtype are at increased risk of falls, the circumstances in which they fall and their disease-related, clinical and functional impairments.

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