Short CommunicationConcurrent validity of accelerometry to measure gait in Parkinsons Disease
Introduction
A range of functional mobility and gait measures have been used in studies that evaluate the effect of interventions for people with Parkinsons Disease (PD). The Vitaport Activity Monitor® (VAM) (TEMEC Instruments Inc.) is an accelerometer used to assess postural transitions and dynamic mobility tasks during routine daily life (>12 h). A second potential use of the VAM is to analyse the raw signals from the data trace so that gait variables can be derived from individual step patterns. The VAM has been validated and used to quantify functional activity in intervention studies [1], but has not been used previously to assess specific gait variables.
The objectives of this study were to: (1) test concurrent validity of the VAM by comparing it to the GAITRite® in a laboratory setting for gait speed, step length and step frequency in controls and people with PD; (2) establish the use of the VAM during a functional walk test [2]; (3) estimate measurement error of the VAM under these conditions.
Section snippets
Participants
We studied 12 people with PD and a control group of 11 healthy participants matched for age, and sex. PD participants were recruited to meet the following criteria: diagnosis of idiopathic PD, disease severity of Hoehn and Yahr stages I–IV [3], the presence of moderate motor deficit as indicated by a score ≥3 on the United Parkinsons Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor subscale [4], Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score of 24 or higher (denoting absence of dementia) [5], no severe
Results
Four men and eight women with PD presented with a mean (S.D.) age of 70.5 (3.3) years, median (IQR) MMSE scores of 29 (28.2–29.7) and median (IQR) UPDRS scores of 26 (21.5–28.7). The average (S.D.) duration of PD was 8 (3.0) years, and Hoehn and Yahr scores were 2.5 (n = 4), 3.0 (n = 7) and 4.0 (n = 1). The comparison group comprised three men and eight women whose average (S.D.) age was 73 (3.3) years, with MMSE scores of 29 (28–30). There were no significant differences in age, sex, or MMSE score
Discussion
This study demonstrates good to excellent concurrent validity for the use of the VAM to measure spatiotemporal gait characteristics during a functional walking test for PD and unimpaired people. Measurement error was higher for step frequency compared with an earlier study [7], which may be due to the comparatively short (3.66 m versus 7.32 m) active recording distance of the GAITRite® mat in our study, limiting data capture for analysis. Also, the functional test used in this study reflects
Conflict of interest statement
We declare that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to this work.
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