Quantification of gait in mitochondrial m. 3243A > G patients: a validation study

Background: More than half of the patients harbouring the m. 3243A > G mutation were found to have trouble maintaining balance when walking in a recent study by our group. Others demonstrated that these patients had an abnormal gait pattern, as quantified by gait analysis. Gait analysis is an emerging method to quantify subtle changes in walking pattern, also during therapeutic interventions. Therefore, we aimed to test the reliability and reproducibility of gait analysis and select the most suitable protocol for this group of patients using a GAITRite electronic walkway. Four different protocols were tested: normal walking, dual task, post exercise and after a ten minutes of rest. Results: In total 36 patients with the m. 3243A > G mutation and 50 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Overall high intra class correlation coefficients were found in all experimental conditions for both patients and healthy controls indicating good reproducibility. Marked differences in gait between patients and controls were observed and were in line with the only available exploratory study performed. There was a good correlation between both the overall NMDAS score, NMDAS subscale scores, both markers for disease severity, and specific gait parameters. Conclusions: The observed reliability of the test makes GAITRite a suitable instrument for intervention studies in patients with mitochondrial disease.