Ehgoetz Martens Kaylena A, Silveira Carolina R A, Intzandt Brittany N, Almeida Quincy J
From the Movement Disorders Research and Rehabilitation Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (KAEM, CRAS, BNI, QJA).
J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2018 Winter;30(1):77-80. doi: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.16110298. Epub 2017 Jul 17.
Threatening situations lead to observable gait deficits in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) who suffer from high trait anxiety levels. The specific characteristics of gait that are affected appear to be similar to behaviors observed while walking during a dual-task (DT) condition. Yet, it remains unclear whether anxiety is similar to a cognitive load. If it were, then those with PD who have high trait anxiety might be expected to be more susceptible to DT interference during walking. Thus, the overall aim of this study was to evaluate whether trait anxiety influences gait during single-task (ST) and DT walking. Seventy participants (high-anxiety PD [HA-PD], N=26; low-anxiety PD [LA-PD], N=26; healthy control [HC], N=18) completed three ST and three DT walking trials on a data-collecting carpet. The secondary task consisted of digit monitoring while walking. Results showed that during both ST and DT gait, the HA-PD group demonstrated significant reductions in walking speed and step length, as well as increased step length variability and step time variability compared with healthy controls and the LA-PD group. Notably, ST walking in the HA-PD group resembled (i.e., it was not significantly different from) the gait behaviors seen during a DT in the LA-PD and HC groups. These results suggest that trait anxiety may consume processing resources and limit the ability to compensate for gait impairments in PD.
对于患有高特质焦虑水平的帕金森病(PD)患者而言,威胁情境会导致明显的步态缺陷。受影响的步态具体特征似乎与在双重任务(DT)条件下行走时观察到的行为相似。然而,焦虑是否类似于认知负荷仍不清楚。如果是这样,那么具有高特质焦虑的PD患者在行走过程中可能更容易受到DT干扰。因此,本研究的总体目标是评估特质焦虑是否会影响单任务(ST)和DT行走过程中的步态。70名参与者(高焦虑PD [HA-PD],N = 26;低焦虑PD [LA-PD],N = 26;健康对照 [HC],N = 18)在数据收集地毯上完成了三次ST和三次DT行走试验。次要任务包括行走时的数字监测。结果表明,在ST和DT步态期间,与健康对照组和LA-PD组相比,HA-PD组的行走速度和步长显著降低,步长变异性和步时变异性增加。值得注意的是,HA-PD组的ST行走类似于(即与)LA-PD组和HC组在DT期间观察到的步态行为(无显著差异)。这些结果表明,特质焦虑可能会消耗处理资源,并限制补偿PD患者步态损伤的能力。