Association between perceived fatigue and gait parameters measured by an instrumented treadmill in people with multiple sclerosis: A cross-sectional study

Background: multiple sclerosis (ms) is a multi-focal progressive disorder of the central nervous system often resulting in diverse clinical manifestations. symptomatic fatigue is quite common in people with ms (pwms),with prevalence as high as 85%. nevertheless,it remains poorly understood and its association with walking capabilities unclear. therefore,the objective of this investigation was to examine the relationship between symptomatic fatigue and spatio-temporal parameters of gait in pwms based on an instrumented treadmill. methods: one hundred and twenty-four relapsing-remitting patients diagnosed with ms,84 women and 40 men aged 42.6 (s.d∈=∈11.9),participated in this investigation. a convenience sample of 25 apparently healthy subjects,15 women and 10 men aged 40.3 (s.d∈=∈11.1),served as controls. gait spatiotemporal parameters were obtained using the zebris fdm-t treadmill (zebris1 medical gmbh,germany). the modified fatigue impact scale (mfis),a self-reported questionnaire,was used to determine the level of symptomatic fatigue in the ms study group. pwms were divided into two groups: fatigued and non-fatigued. results: forty-four pwms were classified as suffering from fatigue (mean mfis∈=∈52.0,s.d∈=∈13.7); 80 were classified as non-fatigued (mean mfis∈=∈14.5,s.d∈=∈14.5). individuals in the fatigued group walked slower than those in the non-fatigued group; 1.7 (s.d∈=∈2.4) vs. 2.4 (s.d∈=∈1.0); p∈<∈0.001,respectively. moreover,fatigued patients took smaller steps,had a shorter stride length,prolonged stance,double support phase and a shorter single support phase compared to the non-fatigued group. in the total group,fatigue was significantly correlated with 10 (out of 14) spatiotemporal parameters of gait,however,correlation scores <0.40 were considered as weak correlations. according to step one of the linear logistic regression analysis,the temporal gait component was found to explain 5.1% of the variance related to symptomatic fatigue,r2∈=∈0.051,χ2 (1)∈=∈6.511,p∈=∈0.011. step two of the model added the gait spatial component,thus increasing the explaining variance to 9.3%; r2∈=∈0.093,χ2 (2)∈=∈12.12,p∈=∈0.002. the asymmetry gait parameter did not contribute to the equation. conclusions: perceived fatigue is related to walking speed in pwms,nevertheless its contribution to level of fatigue is limited. © 2015 kalron; licensee biomed central.