Correlations between Inertial Body Sensor Measures and Clinical Measures in Multiple Sclerosis

Gait assessment using inertial body sensors is becoming popular as an outcome measure in multiple sclerosis (MS) research, supplementing clinical observations and patient-reported outcomes with precise, objective measures. Although numerous research reports have demonstrated the performance of inertial measures in distinguishing healthy controls and MS subjects, the relationship between these measures and the impact of MS on gait impairment remains poorly understood. In contrast, although clinical evaluation has limited variability in scores, it is meaningful and interpretable for clinicians.

Therefore, this paper investigates correlations between two inertial measures and three clinical measures of walking ability. The clinical measures are the MS Walking Scale (MSWS-12), the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), and the six minute walk (6MW) distance. The inertial measures are the double stance time to single stance time ratio (DST/SST) and the causality index, both of which have been proven effective in MS gait assessment in previous work.

28 MS subjects and 13 healthy controls were recruited from an MS outpatient clinic. Most correlations among measures were strong and significant. Experimental results suggested that combining all five measures may improve separability performance for tracking MS disease progression.