ABSTRACT
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.
Parkinson disease; postural balance; cognition; aging
