Objective: We prospectively evaluated the manifestations of On-Drug freezing of gait (FOG) of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in China using a novel sensor-based system.

Background: FOG is a major disabling symptom of Parkinson’s disease. The clinical manifestations of FOG, especially in patients who are receiving regular dopamine drug therapy (known as On-Drug FOG) can vary greatly and its prevalence remains poorly defined. In this study, we prospectively evaluated the manifestations and prevalence of On-Drug FOG in a Chinese population of PD patients in a typical movement disorder clinic of urban tertiary hospital.

Method: Forty PD patients with FOG were recruited in the study. Our assessment was based on the conventional timed up and go (TUG) test during which FOG episodes were recorded via video and a smartphone wearable sensor system (Ambulosono). Video and accelerometer recordings were synchronized in order to assess the reliability of the FOG detection of the Ambulosono system as compared to the judgement of the clinicians assessing the videos.

Results: A total 315 FOG events were recognized by clinicians based on video and Ambulosono recordings among the 40 enrolled patients with PD. Patients performed the TUG test faster than the Cognitive TUG (p < 0.01) and Manual TUG (p < 0.01) tests, with larger step width. Based on the sensor data, we were able to discern three different subtypes of FOG (trembling, shuffling and akinesia), with sensitivity of 89.5% and specificity of 86.8%.

Conclusion: ON-Drug FOGs are fairly common in Chinese patients with PD. Our study provides not only some new information on ON-Drug freezing phenomenon in PD but a practical method of quantifying FOGs in a clinic setting.

References: 1.Chomiak T, Xian W, Pei Z, Hu B. A novel single-sensor-based method for the detection of gait-cycle breakdown and freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease. J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2019;126(8):1029–1036. 2. Chomiak T, Watts A, Meyer N, Pereira FV, Hu B. A training approach to improve stepping automaticity while dual-tasking in Parkinson’s disease: A prospective pilot study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2017;96(5):e5934.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/ambulosono-a-novel-sensor-based-system-for-quantitative-evaluation-freezing-of-gait-in-parkinsons-disease/