Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aging Neurosci.

Sec. Parkinson’s Disease and Aging-related Movement Disorders

Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1626247

This article is part of the Research TopicParkinson Disease: Current findings and challenges in diagnosing and treating motor and non-motor symptomsView all 7 articles

Excessive daytime sleepiness and gait disturbances in patients with Parkinson's disease

Provisionally accepted
Yibo  XieYibo Xie1,2Maoyun  ZhaoMaoyun Zhao1,2Yanjie  GuoYanjie Guo2,3Panpan  TianPanpan Tian2,3Sheng  LiuSheng Liu4Hongxia  XingHongxia Xing2,3,5*
  • 1Institute of Physical Education, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Movement Disorders, Xinxiang, China
  • 3The Third Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
  • 4Department of Vascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Weihui, China
  • 5Institute of Rehabilitation, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), which is common in Parkinson's disease (PD), has been reported to exacerbate gait disturbance in patients with PD, but there is a lack of objective assessment, as well as an unknown specific mechanism. The purpose of our study is to explore the relationship between EDS and gait parameters.Methods: Sixty-one patients with PD were recruited and divided into the EDS group (n=29) and the non-EDS group ( n=32) based on the scores of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The gait metrics of the two groups were then assessed by wearable devices and compared under various walking scenarios.Compared with the non-EDS group, the EDS group showed significantly shorter step lengths and stride lengths, slower walk speed and gait speed, reduced shank-max forward swing and sagittal angular velocity, and increased phase coordination indices and mean duration of turns. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant association between ESS scores and various gait parameters. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis confirmed that EDS is an independent factor influencing gait in patients with PD.EDS was independently associated with gait disturbances in patients with PD, suggesting that EDS symptoms warrant serious attention in clinical practice.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease, excessive daytime sleepiness, Gait, Gait assessment, wearable sensors

Received: 10 May 2025; Accepted: 02 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Xie, Zhao, Guo, Tian, Liu and Xing. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Hongxia Xing, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.