Article

This study aimed to examine the differences in standing balance between
individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and subjects without PD (control
group), under single and dual-task conditions.
A cross-sectional study was
designed using a non-probabilistic sample of 110 individuals (50 participants
with PD and 60 controls) aged 50 years old and over.
The individuals with PD were
in the early or middle stages of the disease (characterized by Hoehn and Yahr as
stages 1-3). The standing balance was assessed by measuring the centre of
pressure (CoP) displacement in single-task (eyes-open/eyes-closed) and dual-task
(while performing two different verbal fluency tasks). No significant differences
were found between the groups regarding sociodemographic variables. In general,
the standing balance of the individuals with PD was worse than the controls, as
the CoP displacement across tasks was significantly higher for the individuals
with PD (p<0.01), both in anteroposterior and mediolateral directions. Moreover,
there were significant differences in the CoP displacement based parameters
between the conditions, mainly between the eyes-open condition and the remaining
conditions. However, there was no significant interaction found between group and
condition, which suggests that changes in the CoP displacement between tasks were
not influenced by having PD. In conclusion, this study shows that, although
individuals with PD had a worse overall standing balance than individuals without
the disease, the impact of performing an additional task on the CoP displacement
is similar for both groups.
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Langue : ANGLAIS