Faculty Collaboration Database

Freezing of gait is associated with increased saccade latency and variability in Parkinson's disease. Clin Neurophysiol 2016 Jun;127(6):2394-401

Date

05/15/2016

Pubmed ID

27178858

Pubmed Central ID

PMC4867191

DOI

10.1016/j.clinph.2016.03.017

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-84963568034 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   29 Citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Freezing of gait (FOG) is a locomotor disturbance in Parkinson disease (PD) related to impaired motor automaticity. In this study, we investigated the impact of freezing on automaticity in the oculomotor system using an anti-saccade paradigm.

METHODS: Subjects with PD with (PD-FOG, n=13) and without (PD-NON, n=13) FOG, and healthy age-matched controls (CTRL, n=12) completed automatic pro-saccades and non-automatic anti-saccades. Primary outcomes were saccade latency, velocity, and gain.

RESULTS: PD-FOG (pro-saccade latency=271ms, anti-saccade latency=412ms) were slower to execute both types of saccades compared to PD-NON (253ms, 330ms) and CTRL (246ms, 327ms). Saccade velocity and gain variability was also increased in PD-FOG.

CONCLUSIONS: Saccade performance was affected in PD-FOG for both types of saccades, indicating differences in automaticity and control in the oculomotor system related to freezing.

SIGNIFICANCE: These results and others show that FOG impacts non-gait motor functions, suggesting global motor impairment in PD-FOG.

Author List

Nemanich ST, Earhart GM

Author

Sam Nemanich Ph.D. Assistant Professor in the Occupational Therapy department at Marquette University

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Aged
Case-Control Studies
Female
Gait
Humans
Male
Motor Activity
Parkinson Disease
Reaction Time
Saccades