Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the concurrent validity and test–retest reliability of a sensor-based gait analysis system. Eleven healthy subjects and four Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients were asked to complete gait tasks whilst wearing two inertial measurement units at their feet. The extracted spatio-temporal parameters of 1166 strides were compared to those extracted from a reference camera-based motion capture system concerning concurrent validity. Test–retest reliability was assessed for five healthy subjects at three different days in a two week period. The two systems were highly correlated for all gait parameters (). The bias for stride time was ms and for stride length was cm. No systematic range dependent errors were observed and no significant changes existed between healthy subjects and PD patients. Test-retest reliability was excellent for all parameters (intraclass correlation (ICC) > 0.81) except for gait velocity (ICC > 0.55). The sensor-based system was able to accurately capture spatio-temporal gait parameters as compared to the reference camera-based system for normal and impaired gait. The system’s high retest reliability renders the use in recurrent clinical measurements and in long-term applications feasible.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most frequent neuro-degenerative disorder with a high prevalence [1]
PD was defined according to the Guidelines of the German Association for Neurology (DGN), which are similar to the UK PD Society Brain Bank criteria [21]
The present study provides evidence that the employed sensor-based gait analysis system is a promising tool for the assessment of spatio-temporal gait parameters
Summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most frequent neuro-degenerative disorder with a high prevalence [1]. It is characterized by movement impairments with the cardinal symptoms tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and loss of postural reflexes as well as secondary gait symptoms such as shuffling gait and freezing [2]. To clinically assess motor symptoms, the patient’s gait impairment is observed and rated on a four-point scale as a subitem of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS-III) [3]. It has been demonstrated that subjectively performed observational gait assessment shows only moderate reliability and validity [4,5], and more objective measures are needed in order to support diagnosis, assessment of treatments, and therapeutic decision making.
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