Gait and Its Correlation with Fear of Falling in Patients with Acute Vestibular Neuritis
QI Qianqian
HAN Junliang
CHANG Mingze
ZHANG Gejuan
ZHAO Ning
LI Shilin
MA Juan
LU Ying
ZHAO Yong
Abstract：Objective To report gait parameters during walking and their relationship with fear of falling in patients with acute vestibular neuritis.Methods We recruited 30 patients diagnosed with acute vestibular neuritis treated at the Department of Neurology,Xi'an No.3 Hospital Affiliated to Northwestern University,between November 2023 and January 2025 and 30 healthy family members of these patients as the control group.Gait parameters were measured during a 2-minute free walk,a single-task 12-meter walk,and a dual-task 12-meter walk(including serial 100-7 subtraction,naming and word recall).The Falls Efficacy Scale-International(FES-I)was used to assess the patients'fear of falling.We analyzed the correlation between gait characteristics under different walking conditions and fear of falling.Results Compared to the healthy control group,patients exhibited a significant reduction in stride length,gait velocity,and stride length during the 2-minute free walk(P<0.001),decreased Cadence(P=0.002),increased stance phase ratio,and reduced swing phase ratio(P<0.05).Compared to single task walking,patients demonstrated decreased Cadence(F=8.781,P<0.001),reduced gait velocity(F=8.443,P<0.001),decreased ground impact force(F=5.745,P<0.05),and prolonged gait cycle(F=7.681,P<0.001)during dual-task walking.There was a strong negative correlation between gait velocity,stride length,and swing phase ratio and the FES-I score during the 2-minute free walk(r=-0.714,-0.666 and-0.667,respectively,P<0.01),and a strong positive correlation between stance phase ratio and the FES-I score(r=0.658,P<0.01).Conclusion Patients with acute vestibular neuritis exhibit shorter stride lengths,slower walking speeds,and reduced step frequencies,along with an increased stance phase ratio.The impact of dual-tasking varies depending on the type of task,and fear of falling further diminishes walking ability in these patients.
Keywords：unilateral vestibular neuritisgait analysisfear of falling
Publication Date：2025-11-20
Online Publishing Date：2025-10-29(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 923-927 )