Turning and sit-to-walk measures from the instrumented Timed Up and Go test return valid and responsive measures of dynamic balance in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Balance impairment is a hallmark of Parkinson's disease with dramatic effects for patients (e.g. falls). Its assessment is thus of paramount importance. The aim of this work is to assess which measures from the instrumented Timed Up and Go test (recorded with inertial sensors) are valid balance measures in Parkinson's disease and evaluate their responsiveness to rehabilitation.

Methods: The Mini-BESTest (a criterion-standard balance measure) and the instrumented Timed Up and Go test (with inertial sensors secured to the trunk) were administered to 20 Parkinson's disease patients before and after inpatient rehabilitation (median [IQR]; 76.5 [8.25] years; 5 females; Hoehn and Yahr stage: 2.5 [0.5]). 81 parameters from the instrumented Timed Up and Go test were evaluated. Multiple factor analysis (a variant of principal component analysis for repeated measurements) and effect sizes were used to assess validity and responsiveness, respectively.

Findings: Only the first component of the multiple factor analysis correlated with the Mini-BESTest, and 21 measures from the instrumented Timed Up and Go test had large loadings on this component. However, only three of these 21 measures also directly correlated with the Mini-BESTest (trunk angular velocities from sit-to-walk and turning; r = 0.46 to 0.50, P = 0.021 to 0.038). Sit-to-walk angular velocity showed greater responsiveness than the Mini-BESTest, while turning showed slightly less.

Interpretation: Angular velocities from the turning and sit-to-walk phases of the Timed Up and Go test are valid balance measures in Parkinson's disease and are also responsive to rehabilitation.