Clinical value of changes of gait characteristics in the progression of Parkinson′s disease / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To determine the evolution of gait impairment over the course of Parkinson′s disease (PD) by assessing the changes of gait characteristics in different disease stages, which could be helpful for disease monitoring.Methods:A total of 276 PD patients [PD group, Hoehn-Yahr (H-Y) stage 1-3] and 63 healthy controls (control group) enrolled in Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2019 to September 2021 were included in this cross-sectional study. The gait spatiotemporal variables were recorded by a portable inertial measurement unit system. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to obtain gait domains representing different gait characteristics. One way analysis of variance was used to evaluate the differences of gait variables and gait domains among the control group and 3 different H-Y stages of the PD group, as well as the differences among the control group and 2 motor subtypes of PD in different stages. The sensitivity of different gait variables and gait domains in evaluating the severity of gait impairments at different disease stages was compared.Results:Eleven gait spatiotemporal variables were grouped in 4 gait domains pace (step length, gait speed and stride length), rhythm/phase (cadence, stride time and double support time), pace-related variability/asymmetry [step length coefficient of variation (CV), gait speed CV and step length asymmetry] and rhythm/phase-related variability/asymmetry (swing time CV and swing time asymmetry). As the disease progresses, most evolution trends of the 4 gait domains in the tremor-dominant PD patients were consistent with those in the non-tremor-dominant subtype. Compared with the control group, PD patients at H-Y stage 1 began to show the mild impairment of rhythm/phase-related variability/asymmetry (effect size 0.42; standardized score -0.03±0.69 vs -0.33±0.49, P<0.05), especially swing time asymmetry in tremor-dominant patients; the pace domain was damaged moderately in PD patients at H-Y stage 2 (effect size 0.64; standardized score 0.12±0.80 vs 0.64±0.81, P<0.05), especially in non-tremor-dominant PD patients, but not in PD patients at H-Y stage 1 ( P>0.05). Pace-related variability/asymmetry showed great impairment in PD patients at H-Y stage 3 (effect size 0.62; standardized score 0.27±1.12 vs -0.27±0.52, P<0.05), but not in PD patients at H-Y stages 1 and 2 ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The characteristic impairments of gait in PD evolve in the process of disease progression. The rhythm/phase-related variability/asymmetry domain may be a marker to distinguish early PD from healthy controls. The pace domain and the pace-related variability/asymmetry domain are important markers to evaluate the progression of PD.