Postural sway correlates with cognition and quality of life in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

BackgroundThe severity of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is difficult to assess objectively owing to the lack of a robust biological marker of underlying disease status, with consequent implications for diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. The current standard tool is the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), but this is hampered by variability between observers and within subjects. Postural sway has been shown to correlate with complex brain functioning in other conditions. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between postural sway, MDS-UPDRS and other non-motor measures of disease severity in patients with PD.Method25 patients with PD and 18 age-matched controls participated in the study. All participants underwent assessment of postural sway using a force plate, with eyes open and closed. In addition, participants underwent tests of cognition and quality of life: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Neuropsychiatry Unit Cognitive Assessment (NUCOG) and, for the patients, the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39–1), and assessment of clinical status using the motor component of the MDS-UPDRS.ResultsPatients swayed significantly more than controls. This was most obvious in the eyes-closed condition. Sway path length showed strong correlations with PDQ-39–1, MoCA and the verbal fluency component of the NUCOG, and, to a lesser degree, with the UPDRS-III in patients with PD.ConclusionThese results suggest that motor and non-motor symptoms of PD are associated in patients, and, in particular, that postural sway shows potential as a possible measure of underlying disease status in PD, either alone or in combination with other measures.

Postural Sway in Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis Patients During Tasks With Different Complexity

“…The PD patients had a slightly lower general cognitive performance based on the MoCA score compared to the healthy adults and MS patients. In the PD patients the MoCA score is negatively correlated with the sway path length ( 61 ). Therefore, the lower cognitive performance in PD could have led to slightly higher sway values.…”

Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy and Falls in Cancer Survivors Relate to Digital Balance and Gait Impairments

“…In fact, other disorders and delays of the sensorimotor feedback loop responsible for controlling postural sway, such as diabetic neuropathy, vestibular loss, and Parkinson disease, are also associated with increased sway path length. [32][33][34][35] These balance impairments may stem from poor proprioception in the lower extremities from CIPN that causes symptomatic persons to rely on trunk control and a hip strategy to maintain balance. 36,37 Wearable sensors also identified unique balance and gait attributes characteristic of women who had recently fallen.…”

Parameters from site classification to harmonize MRI clinical studies: Application to a multi‐site Parkinson's disease dataset

“…Using this ROI approach, accuracies can reach 99% to detect PD versus HS in men (Solana‐Lavalle & Rosas‐Romero, 2021 ). Many studies show increased performances when using non‐MRI data, for instance, voice features provided an accuracy of 93.84% (Karapinar Senturk, 2020 ), or postural sway classification reached 86% (Apthorp et al, 2020 ). The highest performance that we have obtained using only whole brain data were obtained with the WHARMPA method (BAC 79.09; AUC 0.90) and provided comparable findings from studies that used additional strategies.…”