F037 Examining balance and fall risk in HD

<h3>Background</h3> HD is a neurodegenerative disorder with motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms that typically emerge in the 4th or 5th decades. Balance assessment may be useful in identifying fall risk (FR) as HD progresses. <h3>Aims</h3> To examine balance and FR in HD using a simple body sway assessment device (BTrackS™) and FR questionnaire. <h3>Methods</h3> We assessed total body sway (TBS) in 76 HD, 86 premanifest (PM), and 38 normal control (NC) subjects using the BTrackS™ Balance Plate and laptop software. Four ten-second static balance trials with eyes open (EOC) and closed (ECC) were administered in addition to a modification of the Morse Fall Scale (Fall-HD), which provided an individual’s FR score. Kruskal-Wallis testing compared performance between cohorts; Spearman’s rho was used to examine the association between TBS and FR. <h3>Results</h3> HD subjects showed significantly more TBS compared to PM (p&lt;0.0001) and NC (p&lt;0.0001) subjects in the EOC and ECC. In the ECC, there were also significant differences (p=0.05) between NC and PM subjects. Importantly, when stratified by FR, there were highly significant differences between the Low vs Moderate FR (p&lt;.0001) and Low vs. High FR (p&lt;.0001) subjects in both EOC and ECC (figure 1 and 2). There was a moderate-strong correlation (r=0.60, p&lt;.0001) between TBS and FR in HD gene carriers. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Our findings reveal worsening balance as HD advances with a moderate-strong correlation between TBS and FR. These measures may serve as important functional markers of HD progression. Further studies will be needed to confirm and extend these findings.