Falls prevention programs for patients with and without neurological impairments: Does dual-tasking help?

This presentation includes reporting the summary of two systematic reviews with a meta-analysis on the effects of dual-task training among people with Parkinson’s disease and older adults. In addition, the findings of our ongoing RCT comparing dual-tasking (CIBT) exercise, consisting of intensive dual-task training, with conventional single-task training among patients with cerebellar ataxia will be presented. Both interventions were delivered during 4 weeks of supervised exercises, followed by 6 months of unsupervised home exercises. Assessed outcomes included dual-task cost, dual-tasing ability, dynamic balance, fall rate, disease severity, health-related quality of life, and cognition. This is the first study to report the effectiveness of dual-task training among patients with cerebellar. Some immediate beneficial effects were observed following the intervention on the dual-task cost of physical task and dual-tasking ability and dynamic balance assessed. All included participants underwent a follow-up assessment at the end of 6 months following the intervention for assessing the long-term effects of the CIBT. The longterm benefits of CIBT were limited in that there was no retention of treatment benefits following 6 months of home-based unsupervised exercises. CIBT did not have any additional benefits in reducing the number of falls or improving disease severity, quality of life and cognition compared to conventional single-task training. The mean cost of intervention and healthcare costs for 7 months was HKD 33,380 for the CIBT group and HKD 38,571 for the single-task training group. This study demonstrates some evidence to support the benefits of 4 weeks of intense dual-task training on the dual-task cost of physical task, dual-tasking ability and dynamic balance. The long-term benefits of CIBT are found to be limited. CIBT did not improve falls, quality of life and cognition in this population.