Article

Gait variability may be especially important to measure in people with
Alzheimer's disease (AD) as it is related to risk of falling and may reflect the
cognitive demand of walking. Its usefulness as an outcome measure in people with
AD is currently limited by the lack of published evaluation of its
reproducibility. Therefore measures of temporal and spatial gait variability were
recorded using an instrumented mat on two occasions, one week apart in 16
community-dwelling people with mild to moderate probable AD. Data were combined
in three ways for analysis: all available strides; all available strides from
walks with mean velocity within 10cm/s of each other; and the first 12 strides
from the second method. Measures of velocity, stride length and cadence
variability were all found to have good reliability using an average of 64
strides from velocity-matched walks (ICC3,1 0.77-0.90) however only stride length
variability reached acceptable reliability for a clinical test (ICC3,1 0.9).
Estimates of the number of strides required to reach an ICC of 0.9 for velocity,
cadence and stride width variability were between 169 and 212. Poor to moderate
reliability of gait variability measures was obtained using 12 strides. Minimal
detectable change values, calculated to reflect absolute agreement, appear to be
feasible and may assist with evaluation of interventions to improve gait. Further
research should examine the effects on reproducibility of gait variability
measures, of systematic cueing aimed at producing consistent, optimal walking in
larger groups with a range of dementia type and severity.
CI - Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS