TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Functional gait measures correlate to fear of falling, and quality of life in patients with hereditary spastic paraplegia: a cross-sectional study
JO  - Clinical neurology and neurosurgery
A1  - Gaßner, Heiko
A1  - List, Julia
A1  - Martindale, Christine F.
A1  - Regensburger, Martin
A1  - Klucken, Jochen
A1  - Winkler, Jürgen
A1  - Kohl, Zacharias
SP  - e106888
EP  - e106888
VL  - 209
IS  - 
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Gait impairment is the cardinal motor symptom in hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs) possibly linked to increased fear of falling and reduced quality of life (QoL). Disease specific symptoms in HSP are rated using the Spastic Paraplegia Rating Scale (SPRS). However, limited studies evaluated more objectively easy-to-apply gait measures by comparing these standardized assessments with patients' self-perceived impairment and clinically established scores. Therefore, the aim of this study was to correlate functional gait measures with self-rating questionnaires for fear of falling and QoL, and with the SPRS as clinical gold standard. <br><br>METHODS: HSP patients ("pure" phenotype, n = 22) fulfilling the clinical diagnostic criteria for HSP and age-and gender-matched healthy subjects (n = 22) were included in this study. Motor impairment was evaluated using the SPRS, fear of falling by the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I), and QoL by SF-12. Functional gait measures included gait speed and step length (10-meter-walk-test), the Timed up and go test (TUG), and maximum walking distance (2-min-walking-test). <br><br>RESULTS: Functional gait measures correlated to fear of falling (gait speed: r = -0.726; step length: r = -0.689; TUG: r = 0.721; 2-min: r = -0.709) and the physical component of QoL (gait speed: r = 0.541; step length: r = 0.531; TUG: r = -0.512; 2-min: r = 0.548). Furthermore, FES-I (r = 0.767) and QoL (r = -0.728) correlated with the clinical gold standard (SPRS). Gait measures strongly correlated with SPRS (gait speed: r = -0.787; step length: r = -0.821; TUG: r = 0.756; 2-min: r = -0.791). <br><br>CONCLUSION: Functional gait measures reflect fear of falling, QoL, and mobility in HSP. The metric, semi-quantitative gait measures complement the clinician's evaluation and support the clinical workup by more objective parameters.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0303-8467
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clineuro.2021.106888
ID  - ref1
ER  -