Are Mobile Persons With Parkinson Disease Necessarily More Active?

Background and Purpose: Walking activity in persons with Parkinson disease (PD) is important for preventing functional decline. The contribution of walking activity to home and community mobility in PD is poorly understood. Methods: Cross-sectional baseline data (N = 69) were analyzed from a randomized controlled PD trial. The Life-Space Assessment (LSA) quantified the extent, frequency, and independence across 5 expanding levels of home and community mobility, producing individual subscores and a total score. Two additional summed scores were used to represent mobility within (Levels 1-3) and beyond (Levels 4-5) neighborhood limits. An accelerometer measured walking activity for 7 days. Regression and correlation analyses evaluated relationships between daily steps and mobility scores. Mann-Whitney U tests secondarily compared differences in mobility scores between the active and sedentary groups. Results: Walking activity contributed significantly to the summed Level 1-3 score (beta = 0.001, P = 0.004) but not to the summed Level 4-5 (beta = 0.001, P = 0.33) or total (beta = 0.002, P = 0.07) scores. Walking activity was significantly related to Level 1 (rho = 0.336, P = 0.005), Level 2 (rho = 0.307, P = 0.010), and Level 3 (rho = 0.314, P = 0.009) subscores. Only the summed Level 1-3 score (P = 0.030) was significantly different between the active and sedentary groups. Discussion and Conclusions: Persons with PD who demonstrated greater mobility beyond the neighborhood were not necessarily more active; walking activity contributed more so to home and neighborhood mobility. Compared with LSA total score, the Level 1-3 summed score may be a more useful participation-level measure for assessing the impact of changes in walking activity.