# Digital Markers of Mobility in Daily Life to Track Progression in Newly Diagnosed Parkinson's Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $608,512

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
A critical limitation in development of disease-modifying interventions for Parkinson's disease (PD) and other
neurodegenerative diseases is the lack of reliable, objective measures of disease progression. Walking and
turning dysfunction appear early in Parkinson's disease and use of inertial sensors to measure walking and
turning may provide sensitive, objective markers of disease progression as well as of decline in quality of life.
New wearable technology can provide reliable, objective measures of walking and turning that are feasible for
clinical trials. However, quantifying walking and turning during unsupervised, daily life has the untapped
potential to provide objective measures that are even more sensitive to disease progression, to quality of life
and fall risk than current subjective clinical measures of mobility. We predict that turning quality may be even
more sensitive to progression of disease in early PD, than straight walking because of the added dynamic
balance challenges. Aim I will determine the most sensitive measures of mobility (daily life) in 100 people with
early, untreated PD and 50 older control subjects. We hypothesize that unsupervised daily life mobility
measures will be sensitive and specific for early PD. Aim II will determine the measures of mobility in daily life
most sensitive to disease progression. We hypothesize that turning characteristics during daily life (particularly
variability of performance) will be the most sensitive mobility measures to change over 3 years in recently
diagnosed people with PD. Aim III will predict future falls based on daily life objective measures of walking and
turning. We hypothesize that objective measures of daily life gait and turning quality will significantly improve
prediction of who will fall and time-to-first-fall compared to clinical measures (i.e., fall risk). Identification of the
most sensitive set of measures of mobility disability progression during real life activities with wearable
technology will provide quantifiable and objective outcome measures for testing the effectiveness of new
disease-modifying therapies. Improved prognosis of mobility decline will also improve timing of clinical
interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10877755
- **Project number:** 5R01AG077380-03
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Martina Mancini
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $608,512
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-30 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10877755

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10877755, Digital Markers of Mobility in Daily Life to Track Progression in Newly Diagnosed Parkinson's Disease (5R01AG077380-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10877755. Licensed CC0.

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