• Bilge Kocer, Fatih Soke, Nigar Esra Erkoc Ataoglu, Nursena Ersoy, Cagri Gulsen, Elvan Ozcan Gulsen, Mustafa Ertugrul Yasa, Ismail Uysal, Selim Selcuk Comoglu, and Hatice Ayse Tokcaer Bora.
• Ankara Etlik City Hospital, Department of Neurology, University of Health Sciences, Varlik Neighborhood, Halil Sezai Erkut Street, Yenimahalle, Ankara, Turkey. bilge.gonenli@gmail.com.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2023 Dec 1; 192 (6): 306330713063-3071.

BackgroundPeople with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) lose the ability in backward walking which is an important part of mobility in daily life. The 3-m backward walk test (3MBWT) evaluates backward walking; however, its reliability and validity have not been examined in PwPD yet.AimsTo examine (1) the test-retest reliability of the 3MBWT in PwPD; (2) the minimum detectable change in the 3MBWT times; (3) the concurrent and known-groups validity of the 3MBWT; and (4) the optimum cutoff time which best discriminates fallers from non-fallers with Parkinson's disease (PD).MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 36 PwPD and 33 healthy people. The 3MBWT was conducted with the 10-m walk test, timed up and go test, Berg Balance Scale, four square step test, activity-specific balance confidence scale, Movement Disorders Society Sponsored Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, and Hoehn and Yahr Scale.ResultsThe 3MBWT demonstrated excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.965). The MDC of 2.13 s was determined. The 3MBWT had moderate to high correlations with the other outcome measures (correlation coefficient ranged from -0.592 to 0.858). On the 3MBWT times, there were significant differences between PwPD and healthy people, and between fallers and non-fallers with PD (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). A 3MBWT time of 10.31 s was found to best discriminate fallers from non-fallers with PD.ConclusionsThe 3MBWT is a reliable, valid, and easy to administer outcome measure to assess backward walking performance in PwPD, indicating it to be used in practice and research.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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