Background: Arm swing changes are common even in the early stages of Parkinson's disease (PD). We hypothesized that arm swing changes decrease with age and can be detected using a low-cost, RGB-D depth-sensing camera.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the differences in arm swing between PD patients and healthy participants and to investigate the possible effects of aging on these differences.
Methods: Twenty-five PD patients (aged 45-87 years) and 25 age-matched, healthy subjects (aged 46-88 years) were included. Clinical variables were evaluated using a descriptive analysis. No spatiotemporal variables were normally distributed; therefore, we used a Mann-Whitney U test to compare the continuous variables between groups and to perform age-stratified analysis. A receiver operating characteristic analysis was generated to evaluate the discrimination activity of arm swing asymmetry (ASA).
Results: The PD group showed significant reductions in arm swing magnitude (left, p = 0.002; right, p = 0.006) and arm swing speed (left, p = 0.002; right, p = 0.004) and significantly greater ASA (p < 0.001). The age-stratified analysis showed significant differences in ASA in the 40-59-year group (p = 0.001) and bilateral arm swing magnitude in the 60-66-year group. No differences were found in those aged >67 years.
Conclusions: The camera detected differences in ASA, arm swing speed, and arm swing magnitude between PD patients and healthy individuals. Analysis of arm swing variables should be stratified by age, and the validity of the analysis may be questionable in patients aged >67 years.
Keywords: Kinect; Parkinson’s disease; aging; biomechanics; depth camera; gait.