Abstract
Introduction: Parkinson’s disease is most prevalent among elderly people, 65 years and over, and leads to an alteration in motor control associated with postural instability. Current evidence shows that postural control decreases with the aging process. In addition, postural control is more altered in healthy aged men than in women. Until today, few studies have evaluated the combined impact of Parkinson’s disease and sex on postural control. This review has allowed to evaluate the impact of Parkinson’s disease and sex on postural control measurements in elderly people. Methodology: Studies have been selected from two main databases: PubMed and EBSCO using the keywords “Parkinson”, “postural control OR balance” and “sex”. Articles related to the evaluation of postural control, including men and women with Parkinson’s aged over 65 years old, regardless of stage, were included (n = 179). Articles were excluded if not written in French or English or not presenting original content. Results: Ten (10) studies out of 179 that fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria were reported in the final analysis, which cumulates a total of 944 individuals with Parkinson’s (410 women). In general, results show greater postural instability among people with Parkinson’s compared to healthy subjects, and this according to different objective measurements using stabilographic parameters from force platforms. Only two studies out of ten evaluated postural control while briefly considering distinctions between sex, but without showing a significant difference between men and women with Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s severity, length of time of Parkinson’s disease and cognitive state of the person are the three variables with a negative impact on postural control. Conclusion: Older people with Parkinson’s disease have greater postural instability. Sex does not seem to influence the postural control of elderly people with Parkinson’s, although more studies are necessary.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease is most prevalent among elderly people, 65 years and over, and leads to an alteration in motor control associated with postural instability
We observed that few studies briefly compared men and women and, across these, no statistically significant results were present regarding the impact of sex on Parkinson’s disease [31,32]
Women in the study by Tassorelli et al [31] demonstrated a lower level of functional independence (FIM = 98.9 ± 15.3 for men and 91.9 ± 16.6 for women), a lower Berg Balance Scale score (BBS = 51.9 ± 11.7 for men and 43.2 ± 12.8 for women) compared to men and a greater fear of falling than men (FES = 10.1 ± 6.7 for men and 20.9 ± 9.9 for women)
Summary
Parkinson’s disease is most prevalent among elderly people, 65 years and over, and leads to an alteration in motor control associated with postural instability. With the natural process of aging, chronic degenerative diseases are more prevalent and further impact the biological changes associated with the proper aging process, such as muscular weakness, mobility impairment and poor balance or postural control [2,3,4]. These changes may predict frailty in the older individual as well as an increase in the risk of falls in this population [5,6,7]. They are associated with multiple injuries and disabilities [10,11,12] as well as physical injuries, social isolation, psychological problems (anxiety, fear and depression) and increased mortality rates [12,13,14,15]
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