Smartphone-Based Evaluation of Postural Stability in Parkinson’s Disease Patients During Quiet Stance

Abstract

Background: Postural instability is one of the most troublesome motor symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease (PD). It impairs patients’ quality of life and results in high risk of falls. The aim of this study is to provide a reliable tool for the automated assessment of postural instability. Methods: Data acquisition was performed on 42 PD patients and 7 young healthy subjects. They were asked to keep a quiet stance position for at least 30 s while wearing a waist-mounted smartphone. A total number of 414 features was extracted from both time and frequency domain, selected based on Pearson’s correlation, and fed to an optimized Support Vector Machine. Results: The implemented model was able to differentiate patients with mild postural instability from those with severe postural instability and from healthy controls, with 100% accuracy. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the feasibility of using inertial sensors embedded in commercial smartphones and proposed a simple protocol for accurate postural instability scoring. This tool can be used for early detection of PD motor signs, disease follow-up and fall prevention.

Gait and Balance Assessments using Smartphone Applications in Parkinson’s Disease: A Systematic Review

“…% Male: 63 . Chronicity: NA 66.1 ± 9.0 334 Borzì et al 2020 [ 26 ] Cross-sectional trial . H & Y: 2.3 ± 0.6 .…”

“…Individuals with PD . Home-based assessment Borzì et al 2020 [ 26 ] . SensorLog App based on tri-axial accelerometer and gyroscope embedded in commercial smartphones .…”

“…iOS models included iPod Touch 4 th and 5 th generation, iPhone 5, 6, and 6 plus and Android OS models included Samsung S3, S5, S8, J7, LG, LG Optimus, Sony Xperia, Google Nexus, Huawei Ascend, and Moto G4. Six studies did not specify the smartphone models used [ 26 , 28 , 34 , 38 , 50 , 51 ]. Nineteen (61%) out the 31 studies included in this review reported individuals with PD as their intended users, seven (23%) reported clinicians as intended users, and five (16%) reported both individuals with PD and clinicians as their intended users.…”

“…Borzì et al . [ 26 ] reported high correlation between a SensorLog application and UPDRS postural instability clinical score ( r = 0.76, p < 0.0001). Similarly, Ozinga et al .…”

“…In summary, the validity of 13 smartphone applications to evaluate gait and/or balance in PD has been reported in the literature. Sway Balance™ [ 8 , 25 ], SensorLog application [ 26 ], and a smartphone-based accelerometer application without a specific name [ 28 ] have been validated to assess postural instability in PD. Also, SmartMOVE application [ 36 ], RUNZI application [ 44 ], Hopkins PD application [ 29 ], a Fuzzy logic algorithm embedded in a smartphone [ 39 ], and two other smartphone-based accelerometer applications without specific names [ 9 , 40 ] have been validated to assess gait alterations and FoG in PD.…”