Disability and Fatigue Can Be Objectively Measured in Multiple Sclerosis

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Neuroscience
• Rehabilitation Science

Background:

• Current clinical outcome measures for multiple sclerosis (MS) disability lack sufficient responsiveness and sensitivity.
• There is a need for objective and sensitive tools to assess MS-related motor impairments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of using inertial sensors for gait analysis in individuals with MS.
• To identify novel, objective measures of disability in MS through gait analysis.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 80 MS patients and 50 healthy controls.
• Utilized a commercial magnetic inertial measurement unit system to assess lower-limb kinematics during a one-minute walking test.
• Calculated mean and standard deviation of range of motion (mROM, sROM) for lower limb joints, proposing a motor performance index (E) based on sROMs.

Main Results:

• Developed two novel, observer-independent measures for assessing MS disability.
• Hip mROM demonstrated high sensitivity to lower limb motor impairment, correlating with muscle strength and detecting subclinical disability.
• The E index effectively differentiated MS patients by disability level (moderate/severe), independent of walking speed, and correlated with fatigue and perceived health.

Conclusions:

• Inertial sensor-based gait analysis is a feasible method for assessing multiple sclerosis.
• This technology can effectively detect both clinical and subclinical levels of disability in MS patients.
• Novel gait parameters derived from inertial sensors offer objective and sensitive measures for MS disability assessment.