Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (Nov 2023)

Unsupervised but not supervised gait parameters are related to fatigue in Parkinson’s disease: a pilot study

  • Andrea Pilotto,
  • Andrea Pilotto,
  • Andrea Pilotto,
  • Andrea Rizzardi,
  • Andrea Rizzardi,
  • Cinzia Zatti,
  • Cinzia Zatti,
  • Clint Hansen,
  • Clint Hansen,
  • Antonio Donini,
  • Robbin Romijnders,
  • Robbin Romijnders,
  • Walter Maetzler,
  • Walter Maetzler,
  • Alessandro Padovani,
  • Alessandro Padovani,
  • Alessandro Padovani

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1279722
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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IntroductionFatigue is a common and disabling symptom in Parkinson’s disease (PD), also affecting gait. Detection of fatigue-associated changes of gait using mobile health technologies (MHT) could become increasingly effective.MethodsCognitively unimpaired PD patients without fluctuations (UPDRS IV < 1) underwent a standard neurological assessment including the PD-Fatigue scale (PFS-16). PD patients with (PD-F) and without fatigue (PD-N) were matched for age, sex, cognitive function and disease severity. Each participant underwent MHT gait assessment under supervised condition (SC) and unsupervised condition (UC).ResultsGait parameters of 21 PD-F and 21 PD-N did not significantly differ under SC. Under UC, PD-F showed higher step time, step time variability and asymmetry index compared to PD-N and the PFS-16 correlated with step time.ConclusionThis is the first MHT-based study with PD patients showing a correlation between fatigue and gait parameters. In addition, the data collected suggest that UC is clearly superior to SC in addressing this question.

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