Gait asymmetry and symptom laterality in Parkinson’s disease: two of a kind?

The laterality of motor symptoms is considered a key feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Here, we investigated whether gait and turning asymmetry coincided with symptom laterality as determined by the MDS-UPRDS part III and whether it was increased compared to healthy controls (HC). We analyzed the asymmetry of gait and turning with and without a cognitive dual task (DT) using motion capture systems and wearable sensors in 97 PD patients mostly from Hoehn Yahr stage II and III and 36 age-matched HC. We also assessed motor symptom asymmetry using the bilateral sub-items of the MDS-UPDRS-III. Finally, we examined the strength of the association between gait asymmetry and symptom laterality. Participants with PD had increased gait but not more turning asymmetry compared to HC (p < 0.05). Only 53.7