Wearable gait sensors to measure ataxia due to spinocerebellar degeneration

Abstract

AbstractBackground and AimLimited attention has been paid to the relationship between wearable gait sensors in cerebellar ataxia.ObjectiveWe aimed to correlate a bed‐side ataxia measure with wearable gait sensor parameters in patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD).MethodsWe recruited 14 SCD patients capable of walking independently: six men and eight women, mean age 59.4 years, disease duration 5.3 years, pure cerebellar type 10, cerebellar‐plus type 4, but with few symptoms other than cerebellar ataxia. All patients were assessed by the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) and the Gait‐Kun system, a wearable gait sensor with triple‐axial accelerometers. Statistical analysis was performed by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient test and multiple regression analysis test. Significance was estimated as P < 0.05.ResultsWe found that (i) the Gait‐Kun system can be used easily in cerebellar ataxia patients; (ii) Spearman's rank correlation coefficient test showed a close relationship between SARA gait subcategory and (a) converted number of steps (indicating shorter stride) (P < 0.01) and (b) step‐width variation (indicating staggering) (P < 0.01); and (iii) multiple regression analysis showed a close relationship between SARA gait and converted number of steps (indicating shorter stride) (P = 0.001).ConclusionUsing the Gait‐Kun system (wearable sensors), there was a close relationship between SARA gait subcategory and both converted number of steps and step‐width variation, indicating that not only step‐width variability but also shorter stride is a feature of ataxic gait abnormalities.