title: The competition with a concurrent cognitive task affects posturographic measures in patients with Parkinson disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the impact of a sensory-motor- cognitive task on postural balance, in Parkinson disease patients (Hoehn and Yahr 2-3) and to investigate possible relationships between posturography and functional balance clinical scales.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parkinson disease patients (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 27) were evaluated with fluency tests, Berg Balance scale, Mini Best test and static posturography on the conditions eyes open, eyes closed and dual-task (simultaneous balance and fluency tasks).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Posturographic data showed that Parkinson disease patients performed worse than controls in all evaluations. In general, balance on dual-task was significantly poorer than balance with eyes closed. Posturographic data were weakly correlated to clinical balance scales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In clinical practice, Parkinson disease patients are commonly assessed with eyes closed, to sensitize balance. Our study showed that adding a cognitive task is even more effective. Static posturographic data should be carefully overgeneralized to infer functional balance impairments.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisioterapia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alessandra Ferreira
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carolina de Oliveira
authors.initials: Cde O
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Janini
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Débora Valente
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Francato
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisioterapia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fátima Aparecida
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Caromano
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hsin Fen
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Egberto Reis
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Júlia Maria D'Andrea
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Greve
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisioterapia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mariana Callil
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Voos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology