Are measures employed in the assessment of balance useful for detecting differences among groups that vary by age and disease state?
OBJECTIVE
This study explored the usefulness of measures commonly employed in the examination of persons with balance impairment to discriminate between performances of young and older adults and older adults with and without neurological disease.


METHODS
Eighteen young adults, 22 healthy older adults, 12 individuals with Parkinson disease, and 20 older adults with peripheral neuropathy were recruited from the community.Performances on the following measures were compared: Mini Mental State Exam, grip strength, timed chair rise, semitandem and tandem stance, Timed Up and Go (TUG), and Berg Balance Scale (BBS). Survival analysis was used to analyze semitandem and tandem stance. Grip strength and other tests were analyzed using analysis of variance. Tukey multiple comparison procedure was employed to assess differences in performance among groups.


RESULTS
Significant differences in performance were found for all measures. Grip and timed chair rise discriminated young and older adult groups. Timed chair rise, tandem stance, TUG, and BBS detected differences between healthy individuals and those with disease. Semitandem stance and BBS discriminated between individuals with disease conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
When examining individuals with balance difficulty, combinations of measures are needed to discriminate between clinically distinct groups.
Brotherton
Sandra S
SS
Physical Therapy Education Program, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, PO Box 250700, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. brothers@musc.edu
Williams
Harriet G
HG
Gossard
Joyce L
JL
Hussey
James R
JR
McClenaghan
Bruce A
BA
Eleazer
Paul
P
D000058:Accidental Falls; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D004856:Postural Balance; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests