Quantitative Analysis Of Gait Characteristics In Patients With Early Parkinson’s Disease

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the gait characteristics of patients with early Parkinson’s disease(PD)and to compare the differences of gait characteristics among different clinical types of PD patients.Methods: A total of 77 patients with early Parkinson’s disease(PD)hospitalized in the Department of Neurology,The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from June 2020 to February 2022(H-Y grade≤2.5)and 70 healthy people with comparable age and gender composition from physical examination or society during the same period were enrolled as the control group.Gait Watch 3d gait motion capture and training system was used to collect gait parameters,and quantitative and correlation analysis was conducted on gait frequency,gait cycle,stride length,step speed,gait deviation,support phase and swing phase.The baseline data of early PD group and control group were recorded,including gender,age,initial symptoms,UPDRS-III and H-Y grade.Gait data were collected under the premise that the patient’s medication regimen was stable and evaluated by the same physician.Results: 1.Comparison of baseline data: There was no statistical significance in gender,age and initial symptoms between the early Parkinson’s disease group and the control group(P ≥ 0.05).2.There were no statistically significant differences in stride frequency,gait cycle,stride length,gait speed,gait deviation,support phase and swing phase among the three different types of early PD patients(P≥0.05).3.There were no significant differences in stride frequency,stride speed,strut phase and swing between the early PD group and the control group(P>0.05),and the gait cycle of the early PD group was lower than that of the control group[(1.41±0.698)s,(1.43±0.586)s,P=0.004].The step deviation of the early PD group was higher than that of the control group[4(8)cm,(3.15±3.121)cm,P=0.007],and the step deviation of the early PD group was lower than that of the control group[(62±40)cm,(88±17)cm,P<0.001].Stride length and step deviation were correlated with early PD.ROC curve analysis showed that for the step size deviation,the best cut-off value to distinguish the PD group from the control group was3.5 cm(sensitivity 0.392,specificity 0.362,area under the curve 0.343).For stride length,the best cutoff value to distinguish pd group from control group was 68 cm(sensitivity0.608,specificity 0.936,area under curve 0.815).Conclusion: Gait parameters quantified in early PD patients can reflect their gait characteristics.Gait cycle and stride length decrease and step deviation increase in early PD patients.Step deviation and stride length combined with clinical symptoms are supportive for the early diagnosis of PD.