Background The severity of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is difficult to assess objectively owing to the lack of a robust biological marker of underlying disease status, with consequent implications for diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. The current standard tool is the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), but this is hampered by variability between observers and within subjects. Postural sway has been shown to correlate with complex brain functioning in other conditions. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between postural sway, MDS-UPDRS and other non-motor measures of disease severity in patients with PD. Method 25 patients with PD and 18 age-matched controls participated in the study. All participants underwent assessment of postural sway using a force plate, with eyes open and closed. In addition, participants underwent tests of cognition and quality of life: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Neuropsychiatry Unit Cognitive Assessment (NUCOG) and, for the patients, the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39–1), and assessment of clinical status using the motor component of the MDS-UPDRS. Results Patients swayed significantly more than controls. This was most obvious in the eyes-closed condition. Sway path length showed strong correlations with PDQ-39–1, MoCA and the verbal fluency component of the NUCOG, and, to a lesser degree, with the UPDRS-III in patients with PD. Conclusion These results suggest that motor and non-motor symptoms of PD are associated in patients, and, in particular, that postural sway shows potential as a possible measure of underlying disease status in PD, either alone or in combination with other measures.

中文翻译：

---

姿势摇摆与帕金森病的认知和生活质量相关

背景 帕金森病 (PD) 的严重程度难以客观评估，因为缺乏潜在疾病状态的强有力的生物学标志物，从而对诊断、治疗和预后产生影响。目前的标准工具是统一帕金森病评定量表（MDS-UPDRS），但这受到观察者之间和受试者内部差异的阻碍。姿势摇摆已被证明与其他条件下的复杂大脑功能相关。本研究旨在调查 PD 患者的姿势摇摆、MDS-UPDRS 和其他疾病严重程度的非运动测量之间的关系。方法 25 名 PD 患者和 18 名年龄匹配的对照组参与了研究。所有参与者都使用测力台进行姿势摇摆评估，睁眼和闭眼。此外，参与者接受了认知和生活质量测试：蒙特利尔认知评估 (MoCA)、神经精神病学单元认知评估 (NUCOG) 以及针对患者的帕金森病问卷 (PDQ-39-1)，以及使用运动机评估临床状态MDS-UPDRS 的组成部分。结果 患者的摇摆幅度明显大于对照组。这在闭眼状态下最为明显。摇摆路径长度与 PDQ-39-1、MoCA 和 NUCOG 的语言流畅性成分有很强的相关性，并且在较小程度上与 PD 患者的 UPDRS-III 相关。结论 这些结果表明，PD 的运动和非运动症状在患者中是相关的，特别是，姿势摇摆显示出作为 PD 潜在疾病状态的可能测量值，单独或与其他测量值组合。