Concurrent and Discriminative Validity of the Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test (miniBESTest) in People with Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Abstract Purpose To examine the concurrent and discriminative validity of the miniBESTest in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). Method Thirty-four individuals with PD participated in study 1. Thirty-one healthy subjects and 127 individuals with PD completed study 2. All participants were assessed at the University Balance and motion analysis laboratory. Balance performance was assessed using the miniBESTest and Berg's balance scale (BBS). Self-perceived balance confidence level of subjects was measured by the activities-specific balance confidence (ABC) scale. Results In study 1, results of Pearson's correlation showed that the scores of the miniBESTest correlated well with BBS (r=0.765; p<0.001) and moderately well with ABC scores (r=0.587; p<0.001). For study 2, results of one-way analysis of variance demonstrated significant differences in miniBESTest scores among healthy subjects, PD non-fallers (PD-NF) and PD fallers (PD-F). Healthy subjects obtained the highest mini-BESTest score of 88.2 ± 8.9%, followed by PD-NF (73.6 ± 14.7%) and PDF (57.1 ± 17.0%) (all p<0.001). Significant differences were also observed among healthy subjects, PD-NF and PD-F for each miniBESTest domain score (all p<0.05). Conclusion The miniBESTest is a valid method to document balance performance in individuals with PD. Both total and domain miniBESTest scores could differentiate between healthy subjects, PD-NF and PD-F.