title: Are the average gait speeds during the 10meter and 6minute walk tests redundant in Parkinson disease?
abstract: We investigated the relationships between average gait speed collected with the 10Meter Walk Test (Comfortable and Fast) and 6Minute Walk Test (6MWT) in 346 people with Parkinson disease (PD) and how the relationships change with increasing disease severity. Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses determined relationships between 10Meter Walk Test and 6MWT gait speed values for the entire sample and for sub-samples stratified by Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) stage I (n=53), II (n=141), III (n=135) and IV (n=17). We hypothesized that redundant tests would be highly and significantly correlated (i.e. r>0.70, p<0.05) and would have a linear regression model slope of 1 and intercept of 0. For the entire sample, 6MWT gait speed was significantly (p<0.001) related to the Comfortable 10 Meter Walk Test (r=0.75) and Fast 10Meter Walk Test (r=0.79) gait speed, with 56% and 62% of the variance in 6MWT gait speed explained, respectively. The regression model of 6MWT gait speed predicted by Comfortable 10 Meter Walk gait speed produced slope and intercept values near 1 and 0, respectively, especially for participants in H&Y stages II-IV. In contrast, slope and intercept values were further from 1 and 0, respectively, for the Fast 10Meter Walk Test. Comfortable 10 Meter Walk Test and 6MWT gait speeds appeared to be redundant in people with moderate to severe PD, suggesting the Comfortable 10 Meter Walk Test can be used to estimate 6MWT distance in this population.
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Program in Physical Therapy, United States; Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Department of Neurology, United States. Electronic address: duncanr@wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Ryan P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.affiliation: University of Indianapolis, Krannert School of Physical Therapy, United States.
authors.forename: Stephanie A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Combs-Miller
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Program in Physical Therapy, United States; Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Department of Neurology, United States.
authors.forename: Marie E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: McNeely
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific, Department of Physical Therapy, United States.
authors.forename: Abigail L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Leddy
authors.affiliation: University of New England, Department of Physical Therapy, United States.
authors.forename: James T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cavanaugh
authors.affiliation: University of Utah, Department of Physical Therapy, United States.
authors.forename: Leland E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Dibble
authors.affiliation: Boston University, Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training, United States.
authors.forename: Terry D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.affiliation: Samford University, Department of Physical Therapy, United States.
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.affiliation: University of Utah, Department of Physical Therapy, United States.
authors.forename: K Bo
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Foreman
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Program in Physical Therapy, United States; Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Department of Neurology, United States; Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Department of Neuroscience, United States.
authors.forename: Gammon M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Earhart
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D000070857:Walk Test; D016138:Walking; D000072797:Walking Speed
keywords: Endurance; Gait; Outcome measures; Parkinson disease