A study of the discriminative properties of the Six-Spot Step Test in people with Parkinson's disease at risk of falling.

BACKGROUND

Clinical tests that can discriminate between people at risk of falling and those not at risk are warranted. The discriminative properties of the Six-Spot Step Test was investigated in people with Parkinson's disease at risk of falling.

METHODS

Eighty-one participants with a median age of 69 years (Q1-Q3:63-74) and a median Hoehn and Yahr score of 2.5 (Q1-Q3:2-3) completed the Six-Spot Step Test and the Timed "Up and Go" test. A mini-BESTest score of 19 or below was used as a cut-off for defining risk of falling, and a receiver operating characteristics curve was generated to determine clinical relevant cut-off scores.

RESULTS

A cut-off score of 7.0 and 6.8 seconds identified people not at risk of falling, while 11.1 and 9.4 seconds identified people at risk of falling for the Six-Spot Step Test and the Timed "Up and Go" test, respectively. When maximizing the sensitivity and specificity a cut-off score of 9.2 (accuracy of 84%) and 8.1 seconds (accuracy of 70%) was found for the Six-Spot Step Test and the Timed "Up and Go" test, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The Six-Spot Step Test discriminates accurately between people with Parkinson's disease at risk of falling and people not at risk.