ELECTRONIC PLATFORM MEASURES OF BALANCE IMPAIRMENT IN PARKINSONIANS AND FIRST DEGREE RELATIVES.

Abstract

Several measures of balance obtained from quiet stance on an electronic platform are described. These measures were found to discriminate patients with Parkinson disease (PD) from normal control subjects. First degree relatives of patients with PD show greater variability on these measures. A primary goal is to develop sensitive measures that would be capable of identifying impaired balance in early stages of non-clinical PD.