Do reactive postural responses predict falls in patients with Parkinson's Disease?

• Grant number: 19/01203-9
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal researcher: Lilian Teresa Bucken Gobbi
• Grantee: Gabriel Antonio Gazziero Moraca
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The main consequence of the motor impairments of Parkinson's disease (PD) is the increased occurrence of falls. Falls cause severe complications, which can lead to death. In this way, the prediction of its occurrence seems to be important. Patients with PD demonstrate delayed recovery to stable position after an external perturbation that increases the risk of falls. The center of pressure (CoP) behavior of the patients with PD has been analyzed in situations with posture perturbation. However, to our knowledge, it is unclear whether the analysis of CoP behavior in situations with external perturbation can predict falls in this population. Thus, the aim of the present study is to analyze if fall in people with PD can be predicted by the CoP behavior during the postural responses in situations with external perturbation. The research will consist of an analysis of the occurrence of falls of approximately 40 patients with PD for a period of 12 months after the evaluation of postural control. The analysis will be performed using the data collected from an already completed master's project and the database of the Posture and Locomotion Studies Laboratory. The external perturbation occurred in 5 of 15 trials, with a total duration of 20 s each. The perturbation occurred in the posterior direction with 15 cm/s of velocity and 5 cm of displacement in all the trials. The following CoP variables will be analyzed: (1) range of displacement; (2) peak; (3) time to peak and (4) recovery time to stable position. For statistical analysis, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve will be used to evaluate the performance of the CoP variables.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MORACA, GABRIEL ANTONIO GAZZIERO; BERETTA, VICTOR SPIANDOR; DOS SANTOS, PAULO CEZAR ROCHA; NOBREGA-SOUSA, PRISCILA; ORCIOLI-SILVA, DIEGO; VITORIO, RODRIGO; GOBBI, LILIAN TERESA BUCKEN. Center of pressure responses to unpredictable external perturbations indicate low accuracy in predicting fall risk in people with Parkinson's disease. European Journal of Neuroscience, v. 53, n. 8 FEB 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.