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Executive function and postural instability in people with Parkinson's disease.

ABSTRACT: The specific aspects of cognition contributing to balance and gait have not been clarified in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Twenty PD participants and twenty age- and gender-matched healthy controls were assessed on cognition and clinical mobility tests. General cognition was assessed with the Mini Mental State Exam and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Exam. Executive function was evaluated using the Trail Making Tests (TMT-A and TMT-B) and a computerized cognitive battery which included a series of choice reaction time (CRT) tests. Clinical gait and balance measures included the Tinetti, Timed Up & Go, Berg Balance, and Functional Reach tests. PD participants performed significantly worse than the controls on the tests of cognitive and executive function, balance, and gait. PD participants took longer on Trail Making Tests, CRT-Location, and CRT-Colour (inhibition response). Furthermore, executive function, particularly longer times on CRT-Distracter and greater errors on the TMT-B, was associated with worse balance and gait performance in the PD group. Measures of general cognition were not associated with balance and gait measures in either group. For PD participants, attention and executive function were impaired. Components of executive function, particularly those involving inhibition response and distracters, were associated with poorer balance and gait performance in PD.

SUBMITTER: Xu D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4127201 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Executive function and postural instability in people with Parkinson's disease.

Xu Dong D Cole Michael H MH Mengersen Kerrie K Silburn Peter A PA Qiu Feng F Graepel Cara C Kerr Graham K GK

Parkinson's disease 20140717

The specific aspects of cognition contributing to balance and gait have not been clarified in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Twenty PD participants and twenty age- and gender-matched healthy controls were assessed on cognition and clinical mobility tests. General cognition was assessed with the Mini Mental State Exam and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Exam. Executive function was evaluated using the Trail Making Tests (TMT-A and TMT-B) and a computerized cognitive battery which included a series ...[more]

PMID: 25136474

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Project description:Background: Postural instability is a debilitating and largely treatment-resistant symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD). A better understanding of the neural substrates contributing to postural instability could lead to new targets for improved pharmacological and neurosurgical interventions. However, investigating these neural substrates necessitates the use of functional MRI scanners, which are almost exclusively horizontally-based. Objective: We aimed to develop, and validate the use of, an MRI compatible balance simulator to study static and dynamic balance control in PD patients and elderly controls. Methods: Our MRI compatible balance simulator allowed participants to actively balance an inverted pendulum by activating postural muscles around the ankle joint while supine. Two studies were performed to compare static and dynamic balance performance between upright stance and simulated stance in PD patients and controls. Study 1 (14 PD; 20 controls) required participants to maintain static balance during upright and simulated stance for 120 s with eyes open and closed. In study 2 (20 PD; 22 controls) participants repeated the static balance task (80 s, eyes closed only), and also completed a dynamic balance task which required maintaining balance while experiencing random anterior-posterior perturbations applied to the trunk/pendulum. Postural sway of the body/pendulum was measured using an angular velocity sensor (SwayStarTM, study 1) and Optotrak motion capture (study 2). Outcome measures were amplitude and frequency of center of mass sway for static balance, and peak and time-to-peak of center of mass displacement and velocity for dynamic balance. Results: PD patients had larger sway amplitude during both upright and simulated static balance compared to controls. PD patients had larger peak and time-to-peak sway, and larger time-to-peak sway velocity, during simulated, but not upright, dynamic balance compared to controls. Conclusions: Deficits in static and dynamic balance control can be detected in PD patients using a novel MRI compatible balance simulator. This technique allows for functional neuroimaging to be combined with balance-relevant tasks, and provides a new means to create insights into the neural substrates contributing to postural instability in PD.

Project description:BackgroundPostural instability is an intractable sign of Parkinson's disease, associated with poor disease prognosis, fall risk, and decreased quality of life.Objective1) Characterize verbatim reports of postural instability and associated symptoms (gait disorder, balance, falling, freezing, and posture), 2) compare reports with responses to three pre-specified questions from Part II of the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), and 3) examine postural instability symptoms and MDS-UPDRS responses as predictors of future falls.MethodsFox Insight research participants reported their problems attributed to PD in their own words using the Parkinson Disease Patient Reports of Problems (PD-PROP). Natural language processing, clinical curation, and data mining techniques were applied to classify text into problem domains and clinically-curated symptoms. Baseline postural instability symptoms were mapped to MDS-UPDRS questions 2.11-2.13. T-tests and chi-square tests were used to compare postural instability reporters and non-reporters, and Cochran-Armitage trend tests were used to evaluate associations between PD-PROP and MDS-UPDRS responses; survival methods were utilized to evaluate the predictive utility of PD-PROP and MDS-UPDRS responses in time-to-fall analyses.ResultsOf participants within 10 years of PD diagnosis, 9,692 (56.0%) reported postural instability symptoms referable to gait unsteadiness, balance, falling, freezing, or posture at baseline. Postural instability symptoms were significantly associated with patient-reported measures from the MDS-UPDRS questions. Balance problems reported on PD-PROP and MDS-UPDRS 2.11-2.13 measures were predictive of future falls.ConclusionVerbatim-reported problems captured by the PD-PROP and categorized by natural language processing and clinical curation and MDS-UPDRS responses predicted falls. The PD-PROP output was more granular than, and as informative as, the categorical responses.

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Executive function and postural instability in people with Parkinson's disease.

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Executive function and postural instability in people with Parkinson's disease.

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