GAIT DISTURBANCE IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - A CLINICAL-STUDY

Gait disturbance is common in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim of this study was to analyse the clinical gait syndromes of pa tients with AD using Nutt's classification. Fifty-five patients who sa tisfied the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria for probable AD and 55 controls were recruited from a geriatric and a psychogeriatric unit. Patients with classical musculoskeletal or neurological syndromes causing gait distu rbance were excluded. A standardized neurological examination was carr ied out in all subjects. Twenty-two (40%) patients and ten (18%) contr ols had a higher level gait disorder (p < 0.01). The pattern of gait d isturbance in AD patients varied according to the stage of the disease . Cautious gait was the commonest gait disorder in AD patients with mi ld dementia, while frontal gait disorder was the commonest disturbance in patients with severe dementia. The prevalence of frontal release s igns (gegenhalten or any primitive reflex) was highest among patients with frontal gait disorder.