Validity of the Brazilian version of the freezing of gait questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
To validate the freezing of gait questionnaire (FOG-Q) for a Brazilian population of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients.


METHODS
One hundred and seven patients with a diagnosis of PD were evaluated by shortened UPDRS motor scale (sUPDRm), Hoehn and Yahr (HY), Schwab and England scale (SE), Berg balance scale (BBS), falls efficacy scale international (FES-I), gait and balance scale (GABS), and the FOG-Q Brazilian version.


RESULTS
47.7% of PD patients had FOG episodes; this group had worse scores on sUPDRSm, FOGQ, FES-I, BBS, GABS and FOG item of UPDRS when compared to the PD group without FOG. The internal consistency was 0.86, intra-rater 0.82 and inter-rater 0.78. The FOG-Q Brazilian version was significantly correlated with items related to gait and balance. The ROC curve was 0.94, the sensitivity was 0.90and specificity was 0.92.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that the FOG-Q Brazilian version is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing FOG in PD patients.
Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Faculty of Medicine at Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. jussaraoliv@usp.br
Jussara A Oliveira
JA
Baggio
Mônica B
MB
Curtarelli
Guilherme R
GR
Rodrigues
Vitor
V
Tumas
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*