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The multiple tasks test. Strategies in Parkinson's disease
B R Bloem1, V V Valkenburg, M Slabbekoorn
1Department of Neurology, University Hospital St. Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. B.Bloem@ion.ucl.ac.uk
Experimental Brain Research
|May 18, 2001
Summary
The new Multiple Tasks Test (MTT) effectively distinguishes Parkinson's disease (PD) patients from healthy individuals by assessing complex postural control. PD patients showed more motor errors, especially in challenging tasks, indicating impaired balance and motor learning.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
- Rehabilitation Medicine
Background:
- Current clinical balance tests inadequately predict falls in Parkinson's disease (PD) due to their focus on isolated postural control components.
- The Multiple Tasks Test (MTT) was developed to simultaneously evaluate multiple aspects of postural control, offering a more comprehensive assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the efficacy of the novel Multiple Tasks Test (MTT) in detecting postural abnormalities in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD).
- To compare the performance of PD patients, young controls, and elderly controls on the MTT.
Main Methods:
- The study involved 50 young controls, 20 elderly controls, and 20 PD patients performing an eight-task MTT of increasing complexity, incorporating motor and cognitive components.
- Tasks included actions like standing, walking, obstacle avoidance, and cognitive questioning, with errors categorized as hesitations or blocks.
- A subgroup of patients and elderly controls performed a shortened version of the MTT to assess learning effects.
Main Results:
- Parkinson's disease patients exhibited significantly more motor errors (hesitations or blocks) compared to both young and elderly control groups.
- The frequency of motor errors increased with task complexity, with PD patients showing a disproportionately higher error rate in more complex tasks.
- While 62% of controls completed the full MTT without motor errors, only 8% of PD patients did, highlighting a significant difference in postural control capabilities.
Conclusions:
- The Multiple Tasks Test (MTT) serves as a valuable tool for discriminating between healthy individuals and PD patients based on postural control.
- PD patients appear to prioritize cognitive tasks over motor tasks, unlike controls, and may have impaired motor learning contributing to their higher error rates.
- Further research is needed to determine if impaired MTT performance can predict actual fall risk in daily life for PD patients.