Category: Technology
Objective: This study aims to compare video-instructed and operator-instructed RGB-Depth (RGBD) camera assessments with clinical ratings scales for gait and balance in patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD).
Background: The objective assessment of motor symptoms is a cornerstone of successful long-term treatment of PD. In the light of increasing numbers of patients [1], decreasing costs for motion capture technology and the current COVID pandemic, self-administered automated video assessments could provide an effective and convenient method to evaluate motor status in PD [2]. However, it is unclear, how video-instructed measurements compare to operator-instructed tests and if they correlate with relevant motor outcomes.
Method: PD inpatients without walking aids performed the Mini-BESTest, followed by two series of gait tasks (Stepping in Place (SIP), Short Comfortable Speed Walk (SCSW), Short Maximum Speed Walk (SMSW)). Gait tasks were first administered with operator instructions followed by a series of video-instructed self-administered measurements. All measurements were recorded with a low cost commercial RGBD camera and analyzed using custom algorithms by specialized software.
The following features were extracted for the different gait tasks: Gait speed (SCSW, SMSW), step length (SCSW, SMSW) and knee amplitude (SIP).
Demographic and clinical data were obtained from patient records, validated clinical scales and self-administered questionnaires.
Results: Interim results of the ongoing study include data from eight PD patients (4 male, 4 female; mean age 68.75 y (SD = 8.3 y), height 179.1 cm (SD = 9.5 cm), weight 86.1 kg (SD = 16.5 kg), UPDRS III range 16-55, (median 31); Mini-BESTest range: 9-26 (median:15.5)). In all tasks the extracted features showed a high correlation with the total Mini-BESTest-Score for both video-instructions (r = 0.75 to 0.87) as well as operator-instructions (r = 0.73 to 0.91).
Conclusion: Extracted features from an automated RBGD-camera-based gait-analysis system correlate well with total scores of the Mini-BESTest. Video-instructed assessments show comparable results to operator-instructed ones. The combination of video-instructions with an automated gait-analysis system could provide a valuable tool for reliable and valid home-based assessments. Lower standardization in task executions need to be considered for at home studies.
References: [1] Rossi, A., Berger, K., Chen, H., Leslie, D., Mailman, R. B., & Huang, X. (2018). Projection of the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in coming decades: revisited HHS Public Access. Mov Disord, 33(1), 156–159. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.27063 [2] Helmich, R. C., & Bloem, B. R. (2020). The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Parkinson’s Disease: Hidden Sorrows and Emerging Opportunities. In Journal of Parkinson’s Disease (Vol. 10, Issue 2, pp. 351–354). IOS Press. https://doi.org/10.3233/JPD-202038
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J. Bendig, H. Röhling, J. Leidig, A. Spanz, A. Frank, K. Loewenbrück, K. Otte, B. Falkenburger. Comparison of video-instructed and operator-instructed markerless motion analysis with clinical rating-scales in patients with Parkinson’s Disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2021; 36 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/comparison-of-video-instructed-and-operator-instructed-markerless-motion-analysis-with-clinical-rating-scales-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2021
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/comparison-of-video-instructed-and-operator-instructed-markerless-motion-analysis-with-clinical-rating-scales-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/