A patient’s gait could be another clue to distinguish between early-stage Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease

A new study suggests that observing the way a patient walks could help determine if they have early-stage dementia with Lewy bodies or Parkinson’s disease. People with dementia with Lewy bodies walk more slowly, take shorter steps and have a lower walking rhythm compared to people with early Parkinson’s disease, the results suggest. The research comes out of University of Waterloo and two Sydney, Australia universities.“The findings highlight the promise of measuring movement in a more detailed manner which could address a significant clinical problem,” said lead author Kaylena Ehgoetz Martens, a professor in the University of Waterloo’s department of kinesiology, in a university press release.The difference in gait characteristics was more pronounced when the patient was doing something else at the same time. “Walking without interference from a secondary task was less effective at identifying differences than walking while multitasking,” Ehgoetz Martens said. “Asking participants to walk while counting backward revealed changes that weren’t as obvious during regular walking.”The study involved 26 patients with Parkinson’s disease, 20 patients with early dementia with Lewy bodies and 16 healthy controls. Those with neurological disorders were within five years of their diagnosis and were on their normal medication (e.g., levodopa or dopamine agonists, cholinesterase inhibitors). They walked a 9.1m path across a pressure sensor walkway. The participants walked under three conditions: with a normal pace, while counting backwards and while subtracting seven from 100.The researchers outline how the differences in pace, stride length and gait velocity may correlate with changes in the brain brought on by the two neurological diseases. For example, the slower speed and shorter strides in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies could reflect “the more widespread distribution of alpha-synuclein pathology within the cortex” in dementia with Lewy bodies compared to Parkinson’s disease. When patients were asked to do another cognitive task while walking, patients with Parkinson’s disease walked significantly more quickly than patients with dementia with Lewy bodies, suggesting gait differences while people are distracted or concentrating. The researchers note that further studies should investigate differences in gait using a larger cohort, but that these findings suggest that gait profiles could help with diagnosis and prognosis of the two conditions.The study was published in the journal Gait & Posture.

A patient’s gait could be another clue to distinguish between early-stage Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease

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