Assessing and Understanding Freezing of Gait at Home: FOG@Home

Freezing of gait, (FOG) is an unpredictable, abrupt, short phenomenon that severely affects Parkinson's disease (PD) patients' gait and quality of life. The common measure tools are self-questioners that present the subjective feelings and the FOG provoking tests that used in clinic for evoking FOG and getting the estimated duration and the phenotype of the expressed phenomenon. The objective of this study is to investigate the FOG phenomenon using video cameras at patients' home with combination of wearable-axivity sensors and smart soles with a goal of objective assessment and quantification of freezing of gait severity in unsupervised daily-living environment of the PD patients.

Inclusion criteria:Clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) according to the UK PD Society Brain Bank criteria; Modified Hoehn & Yahr Stage I to IV in the ON-state; Ability to walk 5 minutes while unassisted by another person; Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of >= 21 or > 16 on the 26-item MMSE screening; Self-reported freezing of gait (FOG) severity of at least 1 FOG episode per day, based on Characterizing of Freezing of Gait Questionnaire, irrespective of FOG occurring ON- or OFF-medication.Exclusion criteria:Acute musculoskeletal or other neurological or cardiovascular conditions affecting gait or any other medical condition which, in the opinion of the investigator, may prevent completing the protocol; The occurrence of any of the following within 3 months prior to informed consent: orthopedic surgery of the lower extremity, myocardial infarction, hospitalization for unstable angina, coronary artery bypass graft, percutaneous coronary intervention, implantation of a cardiac resynchronization therapy device, implantation of deep brain stimulation; Substance abuse, major depressive disorder or clinical apathy that affects daily walking activity or may interfere with the patient's compliance; Inability to walk without a rollator indoors; Absence of clinically observed FOG during the FOG-provoking assessment.