Can fatigue predict walking capacity of patients with Parkinson’s disease?

• Autor(a) principal: Davi Vilela Carvalho
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Renata Maria Silva Santos, Helen Cardoso de Magalhães, Mariana Soares de Souza, Paulo Pereira Christo, Camila Megale de Almeida Leite, Paula Luciana Scalzo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFMG
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.1590/0004-282X20190136; http://hdl.handle.net/1843/52030; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7994-8325; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5737-7712; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0582-305X; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5301-003X; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1383-8550; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2694-8521
• topic: Parkinson’s disease; Fatigue; Mobility; Gait speed; Walking capacity; Doença de Parkinson; Fadiga; Limitação da mobilidade; Velocidade de caminhada; Caminhada

Although fatigue is an expressive symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD), few studies have investigated the association between fatigue, mobility and walking capacity of these patients. Objective: To investigate whether fatigue is an independent factor associated with mobility and the walking capacity in patients with PD. Methods: Forty-eight patients with PD (22 with fatigue) were tested for mobility and their walking capacity: Timed Up and Go (TUG), 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT) at usual and fastest speed, and 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT). Fatigue was measured with Parkinson’s Fatigue Scale (PFS-16). Linear regression analysis was used to investigate if fatigue is an independent factor contributing to variance in mobility and walking capacity. Results: There was a positive correlation between PFS-16 and TUG (rs=0.385; p=0.007). There was a negative correlation between PFS-16 and 10MWT at comfortable (r=-0.385; p=0.007) and fast speeds (r=-0.396; p=0.005), and 6MWT (r=-0.472; p=0.001). Linear regression analysis revealed that fatigue did not explain the variance of TUG and 10MWT. PFS-16, age and section III of UPDRS explained 49.6% (adjusted R2; p<0.001) variance in the 6MWT, and fatigue was the most significant predictor (F=-32.1; p=0.022). Conclusions: Fatigue is an independent factor contributing to the distance covered during 6MWT in patients with PD. Our results highlight the importance of recognition and management of this symptom.