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Dynamic Digital Biomarkers of Motor and Cognitive Function in Parkinson's Disease
Published on: July 24, 2019
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Parkinson's disease medication state and severity assessment based on coordination during walking
Carla Agurto1, Stephen Heisig1, Avner Abrami1
1IBM Research - Healthcare and Life Sciences, Yorktown Heights, Yorktown, New York, United States of America.
Plos One
|February 17, 2021
Summary
Researchers developed a computational method using wearable sensors to objectively assess Parkinson's disease (PD) effects on walking coordination. This approach can track disease severity and medication status by analyzing body movements during gait.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Neuroscience
- Movement Science
Background:
- Parkinson's disease (PD) significantly impairs motor functions, particularly walking, due to symptoms like rigidity, bradykinesia, and balance deficits.
- Objective and quantitative assessment of gait abnormalities in PD is crucial for monitoring disease progression and treatment efficacy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and validate a computational method for objectively assessing the impact of Parkinson's disease on body coordination during walking.
- To correlate gait coordination patterns with Parkinson's disease severity and medication status (ON/OFF therapy).
Main Methods:
- Utilized wearable sensors (three-axis accelerometers) placed on six body locations of participants with PD and healthy controls during a scripted walking task.
- Synchronized accelerometer data and extracted canonical movement templates to represent complex movements in a reduced dimensionality space.
- Analyzed the relationship between projected movement patterns, disease severity (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale - UPDRS), and medication state.
Main Results:
- Velocity profiles of the right wrist and right foot during right steps showed a correlation (r2 up to 0.46) with the total UPDRS score.
- Left-right symmetry of feet, trunk, and wrists also correlated with UPDRS scores (r2 up to 0.3), indicating altered coordination.
- The computational method successfully discriminated between medication ON and OFF states in participants with PD.
Conclusions:
- Computational analysis of body segment coordination during walking provides an objective measure of Parkinson's disease progression.
- Gait coordination patterns derived from wearable sensors can effectively assess disease severity and responsiveness to dopaminergic therapy.
- This method offers a promising tool for remote monitoring and personalized management of Parkinson's disease.
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