Clinical measurement of mobility and balance impairments in Huntington's disease: validity and responsiveness.
BACKGROUND
Mobility and balance in Huntington's disease (HD) are currently assessed in the clinic with three items from the unified Huntington's disease rating scale (UHDRS): walk, tandem and pull tests. These tests may not be optimal because they are scored on an ordinal scale and do not test anticipatory balance. We tested the validity and responsiveness of three clinical tests of mobility and balance.


METHODS
Three clinical tests (FRT, timed up and go (TUG), Berg balance scale (BBS)) were validated with seven quantitative gait measures and two indicators of functional limitation (HD-ADL and total functional capacity) in 30 subjects with HD. These tests were also assessed for responsiveness to disease severity.


RESULTS
FRT and BBS were correlated with five quantitative gait measures, and TUG with eight (all p<0.05). All tests were correlated with indicators of functional limitation (p<0.05) and were responsive to disease severity.


CONCLUSIONS
FRT, TUG and BBS are valid, responsive and easy to administer clinical tests that should be routinely included with the UHDRS in therapeutic trials for subjects with HD.
Rao
Ashwini K
AK
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, United States. akr7@columbia.edu
Muratori
Lisa
L
Louis
Elan D
ED
Moskowitz
Carol B
CB
Marder
Karen S
KS
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000592:standards; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results