Matteo Bigoni, Veronica Cimolin, Luca Vismara, Andrea G. Tarantino, Daniela Clerici, Silvia Baudo, Manuela Galli, Alessandro Mauro
Division of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation , IRCCS Intitute Auxologico Italiano, Verbania, Italy.
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2809

Background: Gait Profile Score (GPS) was validated as quality measure for the Gait Analysis (GA) in several patholgies, but GPS was never compared with clinical scales in post-stroke patients.
Objective: The aim of the study was to quantify functional limitation of post-stroke hemiparetic patients using clinical-functional scales and GPS and to assess the presence of correlation between GPS and the clinical-based outcome scales.
Methods: Thirty-three patients were assessed with the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS), Functional Ambulation Category (FAC), Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and Ten-Meter Walk Test (10-MWT); GPS was obtained by GA.
Results: GPS showed a fair relationship with FAC (p = 0. 017; r = –0. 412), TIS (p = 0. 011, r = –0. 436) and 10-MWT (p = 0. 009, r =  0. 49) and good correlation with BBS (p = 0. 001; r = –0. 561). The three regression models were statistically significant: Model 1 showed that FAC, GPS and FIM had a statistically significant effect in the determination of the BBS, in model 2 and 3, FIM presented a statistically significant effect on TIS determination.
Conclusion: GPS seems to be an independent linear predictor of balance performance in stroke patient, and GVSs on sagittal plane might help clinicians to investigate the acquired compensatory strategies.

The relationship between Gait Profile Score and clinical assessments in 33 post-stroke patients was investigated in this study. The results exhibited that the Gait Profile Score showed a fair relationship with Functional Ambulation Category, Trunk Impairment Scale and Ten-Meter Walk Test and good correlation with the Berg Balance Scale in the hemiparetic group. This study may have clinical implications for rehabilitation evaluation of poststroke hemipa-retic patients. This will enable rehabilitation clinicians to quantify the rehabilitation needs of patients more easily, measure rehabilitation progress, and study the relationship between balance and gait impairment.