AUTHOR=Chen Zi-Yan , Yan Hong-Jiao , Qi Lin , Zhen Qiao-Xia , Liu Cui , Wang Ping , Liu Yong-Hong , Wang Rui-Dan , Liu Yan-Jun , Fang Jin-Ping , Su Yuan , Yan Xiao-Yan , Liu Ai-Xian , Xi Jianing , Fang Boyan TITLE=C-Gait for Detecting Freezing of Gait in the Early to Middle Stages of Parkinson’s Disease: A Model Prediction Study JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience VOLUME=15 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.621977 DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2021.621977 ISSN=1662-5161 ABSTRACT=Objective

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.

Method

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.

Result

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 (r = −0.639, P = 0.003) and speed of adaptation (r = −0.486, P = 0.035) items could lead to FOG with high sensitivity. In addition, the C-Gait assessment model (AUC = 0.755) had slightly better discrimination of freezers from non-freezers compared with traditional walking test models (AUC = 0.672); specifically, obstacle avoidance and speed of adaptation have uniquely discriminant potential.

Conclusion

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.