title: Prevalence of gait disorders in hospitalized neurological patients.
abstract: The prevalence of gait disorders among neurological inpatients is unknown, although disturbed gait is a common symptom. Gait disorders often lead to loss of independence with restraints for the patients and caregivers and costs for the health system. We designed a prospective study and investigated all patients admitted to a neurological hospital during a 100-day period for the presence of a gait disorder. Clinical investigation and several disease-specific rating scales were carried out for 493 patients. In 60% of the patients, a disturbance of gait was diagnosed. Most frequent diagnoses were stroke (21%), Parkinson's disease (17%), and polyneuropathy (7%). Within these diagnoses, the rate of patients with disturbed gait was high in Parkinson's disease (93%), subcortical arteriosclerotic encephalopathy (85%), and motor neuron disease (83%). Advanced age, dementia, alcohol abuse, and treatment with antiepileptics, neuroleptics, benzodiazepines, and chemotherapeutics were identified as risk factors for a gait disorder. A decline of cognitive function was accompanied by a reduction of walking speed. According to these results, gait disorders are among the most frequent symptoms in neurology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Universitätsklinikum Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stolze
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klebe
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baecker
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zechlin
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Friege
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pohle
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Deuschl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index