Objective: To explore the feasibility of a home-based dance exercise for adults with moderate Parkinson’s Disease (PD) on balance, functional mobility, quality of life (QOL), cognitive function, and depression.

Background: Home-based dance exercise is an innovative, low-cost therapy that may reduce accessibility barriers to exercise. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, home-exercise programs are a highly relevant, alternative approach for people with PD.

Method: Quasi-experimental pilot study with a single group. Adults over 60 years old with PD stages 2-3 (Hoehn and Yahr-HY scale), intake of levodopa stabilized for at least four weeks were included. People with balance or cognitive disorders secondary to other diseases, or without independent ambulation were excluded. Participants underwent in-person baseline and post-intervention assessments (blinded assessor), including PD signs and symptoms, motor function, activities of daily living, severity of PD (UPDRS II, III and HY scale), balance (Mini-BESTest), functional mobility assessment (Timed Up and Go-TUG), QOL (Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-PDQ-39), cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment-MoCA) and depression (Geriatric Depression Scale-GDS). The home-based dance exercise, was provided in DVD format, for four months, 3 times/week, for 30min/session. Four video-dances were delivered (one per month) with gradual intensity adjustment. The video-dance was performed 1h after taken a levodopa daily dose. Participants had a weekly phone-call regarding adverse effects (falls, heart rate or dizziness), exercise frequency and intensity (RPE).

Results: Five subjects completed the program (age =64 ±12.9, median HY = 3 (2-3), daily dose of levodopa = 577mg±310.8, BMI = 26.3kg/m²±3.7. Functional improvements were observed in cognitive function (p = 0.017, effect size (ES) = 0.606); QOL (p = 0.034, ES = 0.260) and balance (p = 0.020, ES = 0.348) [table 1]. No adverse effects were reported, the video-dance was performed 3 times/week for all the subjects in a moderate intensity (RPE: 3-5).

Conclusion: The home-based dance exercise was feasible and safe for adults with moderate PD. Future studies may include a single platform to deliver the exercise program and conduct remote assessments to reduce the need for in-person visits.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/feasibility-of-the-home-based-dance-exercise-for-adults-with-moderate-parkinsons-disease-a-pilot-study-case-report/