Category: Technology
Objective: The aim of the study was investigate the differences in performances of gait and turning under supervised conditions in healthy controls (HC), idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorders (RBD) and patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: Subtle motor impairment and slowness of movements are early features of Parkinson’s disease and might be present already in the prodromal phase. Subjects with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) are at high risk of developing PD.
Method: Each participant underwent a supervised mobile health technology-instrumented assessment including the timed up and go test (TUG), and one minute walking tasks with turns in normal and dual task conditions (cognitive task, motor task).
Results: Sixty-eight PD patients (26 drug naïve and 42 under treatment, mean UPDRS-III 15±9), 18 RBD (mean UPDRS-III 1±1) and 33 age-matched controls entered the study. Compared to controls, PD patients (both naive and under treatment) needed more time to perform the TUG. During straight walking, the showed higher stride time, higher double limb support variability and a higher asymmetry index. Moreover, they turned slower than controls. Compared to controls, RBD subjects showed a higher swing time and turned slower.
Conclusion: This study suggests that RBD patients have a gait pattern that is distinguishable from controls and show features comparable to early PD patients. These results partly support results from a recent study investigating RBD gait in free-living conditions (Del Din et al, JPD, 2020), and build a bridge between the control and PD state. Future studies using mobile health technology are needed to evaluate the predictive capacity of the method, to define RBD subjects that are in prodromal PD phases.
References: Del Din S, Yarnall AJ, Barber TR et al. Continuous Real-World Gait Monitoring in Idiopathic REM Sleep Behavior Disorder. J Parkinsons Dis. 2020;10(1):283-299. doi: 10.3233/JPD-191773.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
A. Pilotto, M. Catania, A. Galbiati, C. Hansen, R. Romijnders, A. Corbani, S. Nocivelli, S. Masciocchi, A. Imarisio, M. Rizzetti, L. Ferini-Strambi, W. Maetzler, A. Padovani. Gait and turning alterations in idiopathic REM sleep behavioral disorder and early Parkinson’s disease: a cross-sectional study with mobile health technology [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2020; 35 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gait-and-turning-alterations-in-idiopathic-rem-sleep-behavioral-disorder-and-early-parkinsons-disease-a-cross-sectional-study-with-mobile-health-technology/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gait-and-turning-alterations-in-idiopathic-rem-sleep-behavioral-disorder-and-early-parkinsons-disease-a-cross-sectional-study-with-mobile-health-technology/