Investigation of the psychometric properties of four different functional mobility tests in patients with parkinson's disease

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of Figure of 8 Walk Test (F8WT) and Groningen Meandering Walking Test (GMWT) in assessment of functional mobility in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and to compare their psychometric properties with Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) and L-Test. Method: A total of 70 participants (35 with PD and others, healthy) were included in the study. Physical, sociodemographic and medical characteristics of the participants were recorded. In order to investigate the reliability and validity of the F8WT and GMWT, these tests together with the TUG and L-Tests were applied twice to the participants by two independent assessors, one week apart. Results: The F8WT and GMWT had high interrater (ICC=0.999, 95% CI=0.999-1) and test-retest reliabilities (ICC: 0.995, 95% CI=0.991-0.998; ICC=0.978, 95% CI=0.956-0.989, respectively). Both F8WT and GMWT tests had positive correlations with the TUG (r=0.926 and r=0823, respectively; p=0.000) and the L-Test (r=0.963 and r=0.951, respectively; p=0.000). Discussion: Findings of this study showed that F8WT and GMWT were reliable and valid performance-based outcome measures for assessing functional mobility in individuals with PD. Keywords: Parkinson disease, functional mobility, outcome measure, gait, balance