From the Journals

Pegboard test useful in upper-extremity motor assessments in Parkinson’s

Publish date: July 21, 2017
By
Lucas Franki

 

FROM MOVEMENT DISORDERS

Pegboard tests are an effective way to assess the progression of upper-extremity motor deficits in patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD), according to a research letter from Sebastian Heitzel, PhD, and his associates.

As part of the prospective MODEP study, motor performance of early-stage PD patients, midstage PD patients, and a healthy control group were assessed biannually over a 4-year period using the pegboard test. E-PD and M-PD patients performed significantly worse on all pegboard tasks than did people in the control group.

©designer491/Thinkstock
The “turning pegs” and “inserting pegs” tasks were of particular significance to the E-PD and control group. The rate at which E-PD patients completed both tasks increased at rates of 6% per year and 3% per year, respectively, compared with a decrease of 3% per year and 1% per year, respectively, in the control group.

Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale part III scores worsened in E-PD patients, compared with controls, but slightly improved in M-PD patients.

“Pegboard is cost- and time-effective, does not require medically trained staff, and provides objective and reliable markers of upper-extremity motor deficits,” the investigators noted.

Find the full research letter in Movement Disorders (2017. doi: 10.1002/mds.27062).

Next Article:

App allows monitoring of drug effects in Parkinson’s