Measuring gait and gait-related activities in Parkinson's patients own home environment: a reliability, responsiveness and feasibility study

The aim of this study was to assess reliability, responsiveness and feasibility of gait and gait related tests in the home of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, a timed walking test, the Timed Get Up and Go test the Berg Balance Scale and the Functional Reach test were applied by three independent observers on 26 PD patients. Moderate to high Intraclass Correlation Coefficients were found, ranging from 0.74 to 0.88 and 0.64 to 0.87 for the intra- and inter-observer reliability, respectively. All test showed Reliable Change Indexes under 11% and the whole test battery was applicable within 30 min.