Efficient methods for assessing walking adaptability in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are urgently needed. Therefore, this study aimed to assess C-Gait for detecting freezing of gait (FOG) in patients with early- to middle-stage PD.
People with PD (PWP) diagnosis (Hoehn and Yahr stages 1–3) were recruited from April 2019 to November 2019 in Beijing Rehabilitation Hospital. The participants performed six items of walking adaptability on an instrumented treadmill augmented with visual targets and obstacles (C-Mill). The patient’s walking adaptability was evaluated by C-Gait assessment and traditional walking tests, and FOG-related indexes were collected as outcome measures. Two discriminant models were established by stepwise discriminant analysis; area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was used to validate the models.
In total, 53 patients were included in this study. Most C-Gait assessment items had no or low correlations with traditional walking tests. The obstacle avoidance (
C-gait assessment could provide additional value to the traditional walking tests for PD. Gait adaptability assessment, as measured by C-Gait, may be able to help identify freezers in a PD population.