Center of Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Department for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
PLoS One. 2012;7(3):e32240. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032240. Epub 2012 Mar 23.
The search for disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson's disease advances, however necessary markers for early detection of the disease are still lacking. There is compelling evidence that changes of postural stability occur at very early clinical stages of Parkinson's disease, making it tempting to speculate that changes in sway performance may even occur at a prodromal stage, and may have the potential to serve as a prodromal marker for the disease.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Balance performance was tested in 20 individuals with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease, 12 Parkinson's disease patients and 14 controls using a cross-sectional approach. All individuals were 50 years or older. Investigated groups were similar with respect to age, gender, and height. An accelerometer at the centre of mass at the lower spine quantified sway during quiet semitandem stance with eyes open and closed, as well as with and without foam. With increasing task difficulty, individuals with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease showed an increased variability of trunk acceleration and a decrease of smoothness of sway, compared to both other groups. These differences reached significance in the most challenging condition, i.e. the eyes closed with foam condition.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Individuals with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease have subtle signs of a balance deficit under most challenging conditions. This preliminary finding should motivate further studies on sway performance in individuals with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease, to evaluate the potential of this symptom to serve as a biological marker for prodromal Parkinson's disease.
尽管目前正在寻找治疗帕金森病的方法，但仍缺乏用于早期检测该病的必要标志物。有确凿的证据表明，姿势稳定性的改变发生在帕金森病的非常早期临床阶段，因此人们不禁推测，摆动性能的改变甚至可能发生在前驱阶段，并有可能作为疾病的前驱标志物。
方法/主要发现：采用横断面研究方法，对 20 名帕金森病高危个体、12 名帕金森病患者和 14 名对照者进行了平衡性能测试。所有个体均为 50 岁或以上。研究组在年龄、性别和身高方面相似。加速度计位于下脊柱的重心，可在睁眼和闭眼、有和没有泡沫的情况下，量化半串联站立时的摆动。随着任务难度的增加，帕金森病高危个体与其他两组相比，躯干加速度的变异性增加，摆动的平稳性降低。这些差异在最具挑战性的条件下，即闭眼加泡沫条件下具有显著性。
结论/意义：帕金森病高危个体在大多数具有挑战性的条件下存在平衡缺陷的微妙迹象。这一初步发现应促使进一步研究帕金森病高危个体的摆动性能，以评估该症状作为前驱帕金森病的生物学标志物的潜力。
