Parkinson’s Disease Patients Classification Based on a Motion Tracking Methodology

This study demonstrates how a computer based methodology for tracking motor abilities of Parkinson’s disease can be utilized for patient classification and assessment of the Parkinson’s disease severity. The Line Test methodology evaluates the impaired voluntary movement and generates a set of features that describe the motion. A total cohort of 6 control subjects and 37 Parkinson’s disease subjects were recruited and assessed for the test. During the test, a vertical line appears on the screen and the device evaluates patient’s performance by producing features that correlate the motion to the last medication dosage, the line-test position, the line-test reaction time and the line-test total error. A common cohort of 24 Parkinson’s disease subjects (patients that carried out the Line Test more than once) was formed to track the features alterations between repetitions in time. Results evaluation was performed in both cohorts based on information visualization methodology, optimized for the multi-objective dataset. The line-test position and the time from the last medication dosage features were proved to present the major relation to patients’ group formation. Additionally, line-test reaction time and the line-test total error features proved significant between patients’ performance in the common cohort. Study limitations are correlated to the size of the cohort and the time frame of the study. In general, the current practice supports further investigation into using Line Test methodology for addressing Parkinson’s disease severity.