UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Developing and assessing a new web-based tapping test for measuring distal movement in Parkinson's disease: a Distal Finger Tapping test

Akram, N; Li, H; Ben-Joseph, A; Budu, C; Gallagher, DA; Bestwick, JP; Schrag, A; ... Simonet, C; + view all (2022) Developing and assessing a new web-based tapping test for measuring distal movement in Parkinson's disease: a Distal Finger Tapping test. Scientific Reports , 12 , Article 386. 10.1038/s41598-021-03563-7. Green open access

[thumbnail of s41598-021-03563-7.pdf]
Preview
Text
s41598-021-03563-7.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Disability in Parkinson's disease (PD) is measured by standardised scales including the MDS-UPDRS, which are subject to high inter and intra-rater variability and fail to capture subtle motor impairment. The BRadykinesia Akinesia INcoordination (BRAIN) test is a validated keyboard tapping test, evaluating proximal upper-limb motor impairment. Here, a new Distal Finger Tapping (DFT) test was developed to assess distal upper-limb function. Kinetic parameters of the test include kinesia score (KS20, key taps over 20 s), akinesia time (AT20, mean dwell-time on each key) and incoordination score (IS20, variance of travelling time between key taps). To develop and evaluate a new keyboard-tapping test for objective and remote distal motor function in PD patients. The DFT and BRAIN tests were assessed in 55 PD patients and 65 controls. Test scores were compared between groups and correlated with the MDS-UPDRS-III finger tapping sub-scores. Nine additional PD patients were recruited for monitoring motor fluctuations. All three parameters discriminated effectively between PD patients and controls, with KS20 performing best, yielding 79% sensitivity for 85% specificity; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.90. A combination of DFT and BRAIN tests improved discrimination (AUC = 0.95). Among three parameters, KS20 showed a moderate correlation with the MDS-UPDRS finger-tapping sub-score (Pearson's r = - 0.40, p = 0.002). Further, the DFT test detected subtle changes in motor fluctuation states which were not reflected clearly by the MDS-UPDRS-III finger tapping sub-scores. The DFT test is an online tool for assessing distal movements in PD, with future scope for longitudinal monitoring of motor complications.

Type: Article
Title: Developing and assessing a new web-based tapping test for measuring distal movement in Parkinson's disease: a Distal Finger Tapping test
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03563-7
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03563-7
Language: English
Additional information: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords: Diagnostic markers, Parkinson's disease
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Clinical and Movement Neurosciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10142559
Downloads since deposit
45Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item