Comparision of the effect of different virtual reality on gait, balance, posture, cognitive status and quality of life in people with dementia

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of exercise programme and different virtual reality training on spatio-temporal characteristics of gait, balance, posture, cognitive status and quality of life in people with dementia. In this study 30 indivuduals (22 female, 8 male; 79.80 ± 7.62 years) were included. The individuals were divided into three groups and were given training 2 days a week for 6 weeks. In the Xbox group exercise programme and VR training with Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect™ , in the ALDA group exercise programme and VR training with ALDA™ Balance Gear and in the Exercise group only exercise programme were given. Before and after the treatment, cognitive status with SMMT, quality of life with EQ-5D-3L, posture with NYPS, balance with BBS and TUGT and spatio-temporal parameters of gait with BTS-G Walk were evaluated. After treatment, in Xbox group BBS score and in ALDA group SMMT score were increased (p<0.05). In both VR groups, there was an increase in speed and cadence, and a decrease in gait cycle, left and right step times (p<0.05). In addition, there was a decrease in stance and right stance phase percentage in the ALDA group (p<0.05). Group*time interaction was found to be significant in speed, gait cycle time, right step time and right stance phase (p<0.05). While there was no significant change in gait, balance, posture and cognitive status (p>0.05), EQ-5D-3L VAS was found to be lower in ALDA group than Exercise group and EQ-5D-3L index score was lower in ALDA group than the Xbox group (p<0.05) in the post-treatment comparisons. In conclusion, the VR training given together with the exercise was found to be have some effects on gait, balance, cognitive status and quality of life. Of these effects only quality of life was significantly different in ALDA group from the other groups, the other effects were not superior to each other and the Exercise group.