Mild Gait Impairment and Its Potential Diagnostic Value in Patients with Early-Stage Parkinson’s Disease

Background and Purpose. Patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) have gait impairments, and gait parameters may act as diagnostic biomarkers. We aimed to (1) comprehensively quantify gait impairments in early-stage PD and (2) evaluate the diagnostic value of gait parameters for early-stage PD. Methods. 32 patients with early-stage PD and 30 healthy control subjects (HC) were enrolled. All participants completed the instrumented stand and walk test, and gait data was collected using wearable sensors. Results. We observed increased variability of stride length (SL) (P