Title
Predicting Axial Impairment in Parkinson's Disease through a Single Inertial Sensor
Abstract
Background: Current telemedicine approaches lack standardised procedures for the remote assessment of axial impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD). Unobtrusive wearable sensors may be a feasible tool to provide clinicians with practical medical indices reflecting axial dysfunction in PD. This study aims to predict the postural instability/gait difficulty (PIGD) score in PD patients by monitoring gait through a single inertial measurement unit (IMU) and machine-learning algorithms. Methods: Thirty-one PD patients underwent a 7-m timed-up-and-go test while monitored through an IMU placed on the thigh, both under (ON) and not under (OFF) dopaminergic therapy. After pre-processing procedures and feature selection, a support vector regression model was implemented to predict PIGD scores and to investigate the impact of L-Dopa and freezing of gait (FOG) on regression models. Results: Specific time- and frequency-domain features correlated with PIGD scores. After optimizing the dimensionality reduction methods and the model parameters, regression algorithms demonstrated different performance in the PIGD prediction in patients OFF and ON therapy (r = 0.79 and 0.75 and RMSE = 0.19 and 0.20, respectively). Similarly, regression models showed different performances in the PIGD prediction, in patients with FOG, ON and OFF therapy (r = 0.71 and RMSE = 0.27; r = 0.83 and RMSE = 0.22, respectively) and in those without FOG, ON and OFF therapy (r = 0.85 and RMSE = 0.19; r = 0.79 and RMSE = 0.21, respectively). Conclusions: Optimized support vector regression models have high feasibility in predicting PIGD scores in PD. L-Dopa and FOG affect regression model performances. Overall, a single inertial sensor may help to remotely assess axial motor impairment in PD patients.
Year
DOI
Venue
2022
10.3390/s22020412
SENSORS
Keywords
DocType
Volume
wearable sensors, machine learning, feature extraction, dimensionality reduction, freezing of gait (FOG), gait, postural instability and gait difficulty score (PIGD), time up and go, Levodopa, Parkinson's disease
Journal
22
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
2
1424-8220
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Luigi Borzì122.76
Ivan Mazzetta241.80
Alessandro Zampogna343.56
Antonio Suppa401.35
Fernanda Irrera501.01
Gabriella Olmo600.68