Transcranial direct current stimulation plus concurrent activity may influence task prioritization during walking in people with Parkinson’s disease – initial findings

Figures & data

Figure 1 CONSORT flow diagram.

Abbreviations: tDCS, transcranial direct current stimulation; TUG, Timed Up and Go.

Table 1 Participant characteristics at baseline (n=16)

Baseline	Mean ± SD
Age (years)	68.13±9.76
Gender (male/female)	12/4
PD duration (years)	8.69±9.76
UPDRS (total)	40.31±18.27
UPDRS (motor)	23.44±9.73
Schwab and England score (%)	87.81±7.52
RBANS (total scaled score)	84.13±14.83

Abbreviations: PD, Parkinson’s disease; RBANS, Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status; UPDRS, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale.

Table 2 tDCS session outcomes (n=16)

Outcome	tDCSsitting	tDGSbike	tDCSWii	tDCSsham	p-value
	Mean ±SD	Mean ±SD	Mean ±SD	Mean ±SD
TUGalone (s)	9.49±2.42	9.38±3.32	9.15±2.21	9.44±3.30	0.738
TUGmotor (s)	10.88±3.14	11.00±4.21	10.61±2.80	11.27±4.41	0.807
TUGcognitive (s)	11.64±4.57	11.20±5.33	12.11±3.97	11.38±4.44	0.037*

Note:

* Subsequent pairwise comparisons were not significant.

Abbreviations: s, seconds, tDCS, Transcranial Direction Current Stimulation, TUG, Timed Up and Go.

Figure 2 Dual task cost associated with TUG tasks (n=16).

Note: Bracket indicates significant p-value =0.007.
Abbreviations: tDCS, transcranial direct current stimulation; TUG, Timed Up and Go.

Figure 3 Mutual dual task effects on the TUG_cognitive task (n=16).

Abbreviations: tDCS, transcranial direct current stimulation; DTE, dual-task effect; TUG, Timed Up and Go.