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Falls in Parkinson Disease: The Relevance of Short Steps

Abraham Lieberman

Falls are a major risk for Parkinson Disease (PD) patients. Between 2010- 2011 we followed 404 PD patients, 204 of whom, 50.5%, fell. We compared non fallers and fallers. Seventy one of the fallers, 35%, fell more than once. Fallers were significantly older, 72.6 + 5.8 versus 66.9 + 6.1 years, had PD significantly longer 9.3 + 3.4 versus 5.4 + 2.2 years. Fallers walked with significantly shorter steps: 0.45 + 0.09 versus 0.60 + 0.13 meters. Fallers walked with significantly slower steps 0.75 + 0.21 versus 0.90 + 0.31 meters/second. Fallers were significantly more likely to have freezing of gait.

Between 2011- 2012 we followed 401 PD patients, 205 of whom, 51.0% fell. Of these patients 161 fell once and 44 fell more than once (recurrent fallers). We compared single fallers and recurrent fallers. Recurrent fallers had PD significantly longer, 12.6 + 7.0 versus 5.9 + 4.5 years. They walked with significantly shorter steps 0.52 + 0.12 meters versus 0.31 + 0.12 meters. They walked significantly slower: 0.85 + 0.27 meters/second versus 0.51 + 0.14 meters/second. Freezing of gait was significantly more common in recurrent fallers. The significance of the shorter step in relationship to falling is discussed.