Abstract
Huntington disease (HD) is a disorder characterized by chorea, dystonia, bradykinesia,
cognitive decline and psychiatric comorbidities. Balance and gait impairments, as
well as falls, are common manifestations of the disease. The importance of compensatory
rapid stepping to maintain equilibrium in older adults is established, yet little
is known of the role of stepping response times (SRTs) in balance control in people
with HD. SRTs and commonly-used clinical measures of balance and mobility were evaluated
in fourteen symptomatic participants with HD, and nine controls at a university mobility
research laboratory. Relative and absolute reliability, as well as minimal detectable
change in SRT were quantified in the HD participants. HD participants exhibited slower
SRTs and poorer dynamic balance, mobility and motor performance than controls. HD
participants also reported lower balance confidence than controls. Deficits in SRT
were associated with low balance confidence and impairments on clinical measures of
balance, mobility, and motor performance in HD participants. Measures of relative
and absolute reliability indicate that SRT is reliable and reproducible across trials
in people with HD. A moderately low percent minimal detectable change suggests that
SRT appears sensitive to detecting real change in people with HD. SRT is impaired
in people with HD and may be a valid and objective marker of disease progression.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 01, 2010
Accepted:
August 5,
2010
Received in revised form:
July 29,
2010
Received:
June 2,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
