PD Dr. Heiko Gassner
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Department of Molecular Neurology

Dr. Johannes Schlachetzki
University of California, San Diego
Department of Neurosciences

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders worldwide with increasing prevalence. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a heterogeneous syndrome but is thought to be a transitional state toward dementia in AD and PD. Dementia is associated with increased healthcare costs and caregiver burden. Thus, identifying patients at risk for cognitive impairment at the MCI stage is crucial to initiate early intervention or enrollment in clinical trials. Objective digital gait parameters help to understand movement patterns leading to falls with severe consequences. This cooperation aims to identify digital gait patterns in individuals with AD and PD, differentiating both disease entities and comprehensively supporting clinicians and health professionals by objective mobility outcomes. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods will cluster gait patterns and develop personalized models to better characterize disease-specific gait patterns. This project enables an integrative understanding of how digital gait patterns and AI-based models support the patient’s daily life.