The impact of anxiety on walking in people with Parkinson's

Background: Using sensors to analyze walking patterns is a useful way to study movement issues in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Anxiety seems to affect how PD patients walk, but this hasn’t been studied much. We aimed to see how anxiety impacts walking in PD patients. Methods: We studied 144 PD patients—38 with anxiety and 106 without. We compared their walking patterns during simple walking and while doing another task. We used statistical methods to see if anxiety affected walking independently. Results: PD patients with anxiety had shorter steps, slower walking speeds, longer step times, and less movement in their feet compared to those without anxiety. These differences were less noticeable when they were doing another task while walking. Anxiety was found to independently affect various walking parameters. Conclusion: Anxiety significantly worsens walking issues in PD patients, particularly causing more shuffling and longer times spent with feet on the ground. This shows the need to address anxiety in PD treatments to improve outcomes.