Objective: To assess usefulness of sway area using wearable devices by (1) comparison of variables with another neurodegenerative diseases (2) assessing correlation with the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA).

Background: Postural instability and gait disturbance in patients with Sporadic Adult Onset Cerebellar ataxia (SAOA) are main problems threaten the independence and activities of daily living. They are also closely related to the disease severity. The International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS) and SARA have been widely used as a tool for assessing the severity and treatment effectiveness of cerebellar ataxia. However, the daily use of the tools is difficult due to its many assessment and difficulty of measuring subtle deterioration. Wearable sensors provide affordable alternative for clinicians because of its convenience and accuracy. Among variables using wearable sensors, sway area has also been shown to be effective parameters for assessing postural sway. Therefore, we evaluated usefulness of sway area in patients with SAOA to assess their balance.

Methods: SAOA subjects were selected in consecutive order form a prospectively enrolled ataxia registry, We also enrolled patients with Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (IPD) and normal controls. All participants were instructed to maintain an upright position in front of white wall. To measure postural stability, we used a tri-axial gyro-based motion sensors attached to participants’s upper body (vertex, 7th cervical and 5th lumbar spine). 30 sec trials were performed consisting of two randomized, blocked repetition. The data was analyzed as a variable of sway area.

Results: This study involved 31 patients with SAOA, 28 patients with IPD and 9 healthy controls. A mean sway area (cm2) of patients with SAOA is significantly higher than other groups analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA (SAOA : IPD : Controls, 26.761 : 13.970 : 4.477, p < 0.001). In SAOA group, sway area showed significant correlation with SARA score (r=0.678, p<0.001).

Conclusions: Using sway area measuring with wearable device to assess balance of ataxia patients is useful. And it is also simple, accurate tool to evaluate. It showed good correlation with SARA score which is widely used assessment tool to assess ataxia. With further study with larger scale, it may show an evidence to measure subtle changes of ataxia.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/usefulness-of-sway-area-for-assessing-balance-and-stability-in-people-with-sporadic-adult-onset-cerebellar-ataxia/