Gait Analyses of Parkinson's Disease Patients Using Multiscale Entropy

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a type of neurodegenerative diseases. PD influences gait in many aspects: reduced gait speed and step length, increased axial rigidity, and impaired rhythmicity. Gait-related data used in this study are from PhysioNet. Twenty-one PD patients and five healthy controls (CO) were sorted into four groups: PD without task (PDw), PD with dual task (PDd), control without task (COw), and control with dual task (COd). Since dual task actions are attention demanding, either gait or cognitive function may be affected. To quantify the used walking data, eight pressure sensors installed in each insole are used to measure the vertical ground reaction force. Thus, quantitative measurement analysis is performed utilizing multiscale entropy (MSE) and complexity index (CI) to analyze and differentiate between the ground reaction force of the four different groups. Results show that the CI of patients with PD is higher than that of CO and 11 of the sensor signals are statistically significant (p < 0.05). The COd group has larger CI values at the beginning (p = 0.021) but they get lower at the end of the test (p = 0.000) compared to that in the COw group. The end-of-test CI for the PDw group is lower in one of the feet sensor signals, and in the right total ground reaction force compared to the PDd group counterparts. In conclusion, when people start to adjust their gait due to pathology or stress, CI may increase first and reach a peak, but it decreases afterward when stress or pathology is further increased.

Automated summary

The study analyzed gait data and ground reaction force to find that patients with Parkinson's disease have a higher Complexity Index (CI) compared to healthy controls, and dual-task actions may affect gait and cognitive function. This change suggests that when individuals face pathology or stress, CI may increase first and decrease afterwards.