Gait consistency over a 7-day interval in people with Parkinson's disease

Objective: To evaluate the consistency of temporal and spatial parameters of the walking pattern in subjects with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) over a 7-day interval during the "on" phase of the levodopa medication cycle. Setting: Walking patterns were measured on a 12-meter walkway at the Kingston Gait Laboratory, Cheltenham, using a computerized stride analyzer. Subjects: Sixteen subjects (7 women, 9 men) with PD recruited from the Movement Disorders Clinic at Kingston Centre. Main Outcome Measures: Speed of walking, stride length, cadence, and the percentage of the walking cycle spent in the double limb support phase of gait were measured, together with the level of disability as indexed by the modified Webster scale. Results and Conclusions: Product-moment correlation coefficients and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC 2,1) for repeat measures over a 7-day interval were high for speed (r =.90; ICC =.93), cadence (r =.90; ICC =.86), and stride length (r = 1.00; ICC =.97) and moderate for double limb support duration after removal of outliers (r =.75; ICC =.73); 95% confidence intervals for the change scores were within clinically acceptable limits for all variables. The mean modified Webster score was 11.4 on the first day and 10.1 7 days later. The gait pattern and level of disability in subjects with PD without severe motor fluctuations remained stable over a 1-week period when optimal medication prevailed. (C) 1999 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academic of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.