Eye Blink Changes During Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease
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2019-07-01
Language
en
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Abstract
Freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's Dis-
ease (PD) patients can have a signi cant impact on the
daily lives of patients. Increased cognitive load has been
related to more FOG. Besides, cognitive load has been
found to have an in
uence on blink rate. However, the
relationship between FOG and blink rate has not yet
been investigated. Eye blink rates of 15 OFF medica-
tion PD patients were compared over three FOG stages
(non-FOG, pre-FOG & FOG). We found blink rate to
signi cantly decrease during FOG episodes as compared
to pre-FOG. Individual blink rate analyses yielded sig-
ni cant di erences for 5 out of 15 subjects. In to-
tal, 711 FOG episodes were measured. These results
might indicate subjects experience more load during
FOG episodes as compared to pre-FOG. Besides cog-
nitive load,
uctuations in dopamine modulation and
anxiety might also play a role in the processes underly-
ing and preceding FOG. These results contribute to ex-
posing physiological correlates of FOG. Moreover, these
results could potentially nd useful applications in de-
tecting and predicting FOG.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen