Towards Objective Testing in Parkinson's Disease: a Systematic Review of the Literature Looking at Assessment of Postural Sway

Abstract

Introduction Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is associated with increased mortality and reduced quality of life. There is currently no accurate objective measure for use in diagnosis or assessment of severity. Analysis of postural sway may help in this regard. This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of the various features currently used to analyse postural sway.

Methods Five databases were searched for articles that examined postural sway in both PD patients and controls. An effect size (ES) was derived for every feature reported in each article. The most effective features and feature-families were determined, along with the influence on these measures of data sampling rate and experimental condition.

Results 441 papers were initially retrieved, of which 31 met the requirements for analysis. The most commonly-used features were not the most effective (e.g. PathLength had an ES of 0.47 while TotalEnergy had an ES of 1.78). Decreased sampling rate was associated with decreased ES (e.g. ES of PathLength lowered from 1.12 at 100 Hz to 0.40 at 10 Hz). Being off medication was associated with a larger ES (e.g. ES of PathLength was 0.21 on medication and 0.83 off medication).

Conclusions Some measures of postural sway are better able to distinguish PD patients from controls than others. ES is enhanced by using a higher sampling rate and studying patients off medication. These results will inform future studies looking at postural sway in PD and contribute to the aim of finding an objective marker of the disease.