Association Between Baseline Gait Parameters and Future Fall Risk in Patients With De Novo Parkinson's Disease: Forward Versus Backward Gait

Digital gait biomarkers in Parkinson's disease: susceptibility/risk, progression, response to exercise, and prognosis

This narrative review examines the utility of gait digital biomarkers in Parkinson's disease (PD) research and clinical trials across four contexts: disease susceptibility/risk, disease progression, response to exercise, and fall prediction. The review of the literature to date suggests that upper body characteristics of gait (e.g., arm swing, trunk motion) may indicate susceptibility/risk of PD, while pace aspects (e.g., gait speed, stride length) are informative for tracking disease progression, exercise response, and fall likelihood. Dynamic stability aspects (e.g., trunk regularity, double-support time) worsen with disease progression but can improve with exercise. Gait variability emerges as a sensitive biomarker across all 4 contexts but with low specificity. The lack of standardized gait testing protocols and the lack of a minimum set of quantified digital gait biomarkers limit data harmonization across studies. Future studies, using a commonly agreed upon protocol, could be used to demonstrate the utility of specific gait biomarkers for clinical practice.

Impact of motor features on non-motor symptoms in patients with de novo Parkinson's disease: Cognition, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and dysautonomia

AIM

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) present with both motor and non-motor symptoms, and understanding the interplay between these symptoms is crucial for individualized patient care. This study aims to investigate the relationship between motor features and non-motor symptoms in patients with de novo PD.

METHODS

A total of 105 patients were analyzed, focusing on motor subtypes or subscores and their impact on cognition, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and dysautonomia. We utilized the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-part III (UPDRS-III) for motor assessment, and various validated scales for non-motor symptoms.

RESULTS

Compared with tremor-dominant (TD) patients, non-TD patients showed severe scores in fatigue and dysautonomia, but no difference in other non-motor symptoms, including global cognition, depression, and anxiety. Linear regression analysis revealed that the total motor score of UPDRS-III was negatively related to global cognition (β = -0.4454, P = 0.0121). As a post-hoc analysis, partial correlation analysis showed that rigidity and bradykinesia subscores were associated with global cognition (r = -0.3527, P = 0.0004; r = -0.2206, P = 0.0299, respectively), whereas the postural instability/gait difficulty subscore was associated with depression, anxiety, fatigue, and dysautonomia (r = 0.2181, P = 0.0319; r = 0.2371, P = 0.0194; r = 0.3659, P = 0.0002; r = 0.3968, P = 0.0001, respectively) but not with global cognition.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that motor features in the early stages of PD can serve as important indicators of non-motor symptoms, potentially guiding more personalized therapeutic approaches. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2025; 25: 392-397.