Systematic Review of Wearable Sensor Gait Assessment in Parkinson's Disease

41 studies involving 395 participants with Parkinson's disease and parkinsonisms were systematically reviewed. The review critically appraised the use of single-point magneto-inertial measurement units for assessing gait and balance. It found 90% of studies were observational, with only 12% achieving a high-quality rating.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relationship between reported outcomes like gait speed, step length, and cadence and the study's quality rating.
• Compare sensor specifications and assessment protocols across the 41 studies to identify methodological heterogeneity.
• Investigate the reporting completeness of clinical aspects and assessment protocol domains across observational studies.
• Examine the 395 participants' mean age of 66 years in relation to the clinical transferability of findings.

Strengths

• Systematic review of 41 studies following PRISMA 2020 guidelines.
• Focuses on 395 participants with a defined mean age of 66 years.
• Includes a customized critical appraisal tool evaluating five specific domains.

Limitations

• Limited to a 12.8 KB document summarizing findings, not the raw study data.
• Methodological heterogeneity among the 41 reviewed studies hinders direct comparability.
• Only 12% of studies achieved a high-quality rating, indicating moderate overall evidence quality.

Provenance

Source

Systematic review authored by Lorenzo Cavazzuti, sourced from figshare.

Collection Method

Literature search in Medline, CINAHL, Embase, and Scopus following PRISMA guidelines.

Time Range

Review covers studies published up to the search date in January 2025.

Freshness

Literature search conducted up to January 2025, with a last update in March 2026.