Chemotherapy-induced-peripheral neuropathy, gait and fall risk in older adults following cancer treatment

Abstract

Background: Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy often experience chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), which reportedly causes gait disturbances that may increase their risk for falls. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether CIPN is associated with spatial-temporal gait adaptations and fall risk in post-treatment adult cancer survivors. Method: This study enrolled 16 subjects between 50 and 70 years of age, including 8 subjects with CIPN and 8 subjects with age and morphologically-matched controls. Gait velocity, step length, step time, base of support, swing time, single support time, and double support time as measured by GAITRite. Fall risk was assessed utilizing the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. Results: Overall, gait velocity (110.75 cm/s, SD = 26.79, p = 0.006) was significantly slower, and step length (53.92 cm, SD = 23.55, p = 0.005) was significantly shorter in those subjects with CIPN. Additionally, CIPN participants had a significantly higher TUG Score (12.33 s, SD = 6.25, p = 0.001) compared to the controls (6.62 s, SD = 1.10). Conclusion: Our investigation suggested that gait speed and step length are key indicators for fall risk. Compared to controls, cancer patients with CIPN may display slower gait velocities, shorter step length, and are at an increased fall risk as indicated by TUG scores. The presence of CIPN appears to increase fall risk, which may easily be assessed in a clinical setting using the TUG test.

Keywords

• Cancer
• Chemotherapy
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Falls
• Gait