The characteristics of gait on individuals with Down syndrome

抄録

【Purpose】To clarify the characteristics of gait on individuals with Down syndrome using the stride time variability considered as a measure of gait instability and to contrast the differences between the participants with and without Down syndrome.

【Methods】Twenty three individuals with Down syndrome who were able to walk alone（20.9-57.9 years）and 23 healthy adults as a control group were recruited. We used a video to record the participants walking on the 16 m walkway and timed the each stride duration from the first heel contact to next heel contact on the same side. The middle 10 meters was set as an area for getting data. We calculated the coefficient of variance with the average time and standard deviation of strides on the trial. The paired t-test was used to determine a significant difference. The level of statistical significance was set at α=0.05. This study was approved by the ethical committee of facility which the researcher belonged.

【Results】The coefficient of variance in the strides was 5.1±2.9％ on Down syndrome group. The value of control group was 2.7±2.6％. The t-test showed the stride variability was significantly higher in individuals with Down syndrome（t（22）=3.422, p＜0.01）.

【Discussion】The stride variability was obviously different between two groups. The previous study reported the ratio of falling was high if that value was high in healthy adults. We expect the stride variability would become a parameter to predict the risk of falling on population with Down syndrome with further studies.