Foot Pressure Wearable Sensors for Freezing of Gait Detection in Parkinson’s Disease
Andrea Marcante,
Roberto Di Marco,
Giovanni Gentile,
Clelia Pellicano,
Francesca Assogna,
Francesco Ernesto Pontieri,
Gianfranco Spalletta,
Lucia Macchiusi,
Dimitris Gatsios,
Alexandros Giannakis,
Maria Chondrogiorgi,
Spyridon Konitsiotis,
Dimitrios I. Fotiadis,
Angelo Antonini
Affiliations
Andrea Marcante
UOC Recupero e Riabilitazione Funzionale, Ospedale di Lonigo, Azienda ULSS 8 Berica, 36045 Lonigo, Italy
Roberto Di Marco
Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
Giovanni Gentile
Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
Clelia Pellicano
Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00179 Rome, Italy
Francesca Assogna
Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00179 Rome, Italy
Francesco Ernesto Pontieri
Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00179 Rome, Italy
Gianfranco Spalletta
Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00179 Rome, Italy
Lucia Macchiusi
Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00179 Rome, Italy
Dimitris Gatsios
Department of Materials Science, Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, University of Ioannina, Stavrou Niarchou Av., University Campus, 451 10 Ioannina, Greece
Alexandros Giannakis
Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Stavrou Niarchou Av., University Campus, 451 10 Ioannina, Greece
Maria Chondrogiorgi
Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Stavrou Niarchou Av., University Campus, 451 10 Ioannina, Greece
Spyridon Konitsiotis
Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Stavrou Niarchou Av., University Campus, 451 10 Ioannina, Greece
Dimitrios I. Fotiadis
Department of Materials Science, Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, University of Ioannina, Stavrou Niarchou Av., University Campus, 451 10 Ioannina, Greece
Angelo Antonini
Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
Freezing of Gait (FoG) is a common symptom in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) occurring with significant variability and severity and is associated with increased risk of falls. FoG detection in everyday life is not trivial, particularly in patients manifesting the symptom only in specific conditions. Various wearable devices have been proposed to detect PD symptoms, primarily based on inertial sensors. We here report the results of the validation of a novel system based on a pair of pressure insoles equipped with a 3D accelerometer to detect FoG episodes. Twenty PD patients attended a motor assessment protocol organized into eight multiple video recorded sessions, both in clinical and ecological settings and both in the ON and OFF state. We compared the FoG episodes detected using the processed data gathered from the insoles with those tagged by a clinician on video recordings. The algorithm correctly detected 90% of the episodes. The false positive rate was 6% and the false negative rate 4%. The algorithm reliably detects freezing of gait in clinical settings while performing ecological tasks. This result is promising for freezing of gait detection in everyday life via wearable instrumented insoles that can be integrated into a more complex system for comprehensive motor symptom monitoring in PD.
