Analyzing 180 degrees turns using an inertial system reveals early signs of progression of Parkinson's disease

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2009:2009:224-7. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5333970.

Abstract

Changes in turning are one of the early motor deficiencies in Parkinson's Disease (PD). We have proposed a system based on wearable, inertial sensors and a novel automatic analysis algorithm that can assess 180 degrees turns. Twelve patients in early stages of PD and 14 age-matched healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. Inertial sensors were attached on shanks and sternum. Measurement protocol included walking on a straight pathway, turning 180 degrees and returning back. Subjects were measured 4 times, once every 6 months during an 18 months period. At the baseline, 9 subjects from each group repeated the test twice to assess test-retest reliability. Patients with mild PD had a very low Postural Instability Gait Difficulty (PIGD subscore of UPDRS III) score (average 0.67, min 0, max 3). The analysis showed that the patients had a significantly longer turning duration (2.18+/-0.43 vs. 1.79+/-0.27 seconds, p<0.02) and longer delay in their last step before initiating a turn (0.56+/-0.04 vs. 0.52+/-0.04 seconds, p<0.03). Estimated turning duration and other metrics had a high test-retest reliability (rho>0.85). Turning duration also showed a significant Group *Time interaction (p<0.03) during the longitudinal study highlighting early signs of the progression of the disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acceleration*
  • Actigraphy / instrumentation
  • Actigraphy / methods*
  • Female
  • Gait Disorders, Neurologic / complications
  • Gait Disorders, Neurologic / diagnosis*
  • Gait Disorders, Neurologic / physiopathology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Monitoring, Ambulatory / instrumentation
  • Monitoring, Ambulatory / methods*
  • Movement*
  • Parkinson Disease / complications
  • Parkinson Disease / diagnosis*
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity