Parkinson’s Disease - Functional Movement Battery (PD-FUNC): a simple tool to objectively evaluate functional movement capacity of patients with Parkinson’s disease

Clinicians require quantitative measures of functional movement to inform care decisions for persons with Parkinson’s disease (PWPs). To address this need, we developed the Parkinson’s Disease - Functional Movement Battery (PD-FUNC), which includes valid items from existing assessments and evaluates five key areas from the MDS-UPDRS-III: manual dexterity, functional strength, locomotion, static balance, and activities of daily living. This study assessed the PD-FUNC’s ability to distinguish between PWPs and healthy controls based on effect sizes and analyzed differences according to disease progression using years since diagnosis and MDS-UPDRS-III scores, as well as Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) stages. The test was administered to 81 PD patients (H&Y stages 1–3) and 81 age-matched controls. All items, except grip force, discriminated effectively, with dexterity tasks showing the highest sensitivity (effect size r = 0.52–0.63). The PD-FUNC distinguished PD stages well, revealing early symptoms through dexterity tests (p = 0.001) and late-stage symptoms via dynamic stability tests. The PD-FUNC provides a comprehensive assessment within 30–40 minutes and could be used to evaluate disease progression and medication effectiveness at home and in clinical settings.