Trunk Control, Balance, Gait, Functional Mobility and Fear of Falling in People With Alzheimer's Disease
Condition: Physical Therapy
MeSH terms: Alzheimer Disease
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purposes of this study were to investigate the relationship between trunk control and
      balance, gait, functional mobility, and fear of falling in people with Alzheimer's disease
      and to compare trunk control, balance, gait, functional mobility, and fear of falling in
      people with Alzheimer's disease and healthy older adults.

      Balance, an essential motor skill necessary to perform both static and dynamic everyday
      activities with stability and security, is impaired in people with Alzheimer's disease when
      compared to cognitively preserved elderlies. Gait and functional mobility disorders are also
      observed in people with Alzheimer's disease from the early period of the disease. People with
      Alzheimer's disease tend to fall more often and are more seriously injured from falls than
      cognitively intact older adults. The annual incidence rate for falling is 60% to 80% for
      older adults with Alzheimer's disease, over twice the incidence of age-matched cognitively
      intact older adults.

      Trunk control is shown among the most important factors that ensure the balance and walking
      of the individual in different environments and conditions during functional activities.
      Optimal trunk control relies on adequate somatosensory, motor, and musculoskeletal systems,
      which are frequently compromised in people with Alzheimer's disease. For this reason, the
      investigators think that trunk control may be affected in people with Alzheimer's disease
      compared to healthy older adults and may be related to balance, gait, functional mobility and
      fear of falling.
    

Detailed description: 
      The study was carried out with the purpose of investigating the relationship between trunk
      control and balance, gait, functional mobility, and fear of falling in people with
      Alzheimer's disease and comparing trunk control, balance, gait, functional mobility, and fear
      of falling in people with Alzheimer's disease and healthy older adults.

      35 people with Alzheimer's disease and 33 healthy older adults with matching ages and genders
      were included the study. Trunk control with Trunk Impairment Scale; balance with Berg Balance
      Scale, Functional Reach Test, One-Leg Standing Test and Five-Repeat Sit-and-Stand Test; gait
      with Dynamic Gait Index; functional mobility with Timed Up and Go Test; fear of falling with
      Falls Efficacy Scale-International were evaluated.
    

Intervention name(s): Balance; Trunk control; Gait; Functional mobility; Fear of falling
Intervention type(s): Other; Other; Other; Other; Other
Intervention description(s): Balance was evaluated with Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Functional Reach Test (FRT), One Leg Stance Test (OLST) and Five-Repeat Sit-and-Stand Test (5STS). BBS consists of 14 functional tasks of increasing difficulty, each scored on a scale ranging from 0 to 4. The maximum possible score is 56, indicating no identifiable balance difficulties. FRT measures the maximum distance that participants can reach forward with their dominant arm raised to 90 degrees without moving their feet, which were positioned 10 cm apart. OLST measures the time one is able to stand on one lower limb without support. The test was repeated for both sides. 5STS assesses the time it takes to get up and sit from the chair five times. Measurements were repeated 3 times and the average duration was calculated as a patient score.; Trunk control was evaluated with Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS).TIS evaluates static sitting balance, dynamic sitting balance, and trunk coordination on a scale from 0 to 23 points, a higher score indicating a better performance.; Gait was evaluated with Dynamic Gait Index (DGI). DGI has 8 items: walking, walking while changing speed, walking while turning the head horizontally and vertically, walking with pivot turn, walking over and around obstacles, and stair climbing. The scoring of the DGI is based on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 to 3, with 0 indicating severe impairment and 3 indicating normal ability. The best performance total score is 24. A low composite DGI score indicates greater impairment in gait.; Functional mobility was evaluated with Timed Up and Go Test (TUG). TUG is a test of the time required for an individual to stand up from a chair with armrests, walk 3 m, turn, walk back to the chair, and sit down. The stopwatch timing started when the participant's bottom left the chair and ended when the bottom made contact with the chair after the walk.; Fear of falling was evaluated with the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I). FES-I was used to assess the level of concern about falls during 16 activities of daily living, ranging from basic to more demanding activities including social activities that may contribute to quality of life. It was administered as a self-report questionnaire.
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Screening
Keywords: trunk control; balance; gait; functional mobility; fear of falling