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Effectiveness of Oculomotor Training in Parkinson's Disease

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Parkinson Disease
Oculomotor; Disorder
Interventions
Other: Control Group
Other: Oculomotor Training Group
Registration Number
NCT04560504
Lead Sponsor
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Brief Summary

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder which is characterized by both motor and non-motor symptoms and usually affects people aged 50 years or above. Many studies showed eye movement deficits and visual changes in patients with PD.

Previous studies have also indicated that clinical eye movement training could enhance the functional performance of patients with various eye movement problems resulting from ocular and neurodegenerative diseases.

In this study, we will investigate the effectiveness of eye movement training on dynamic vision and functional performance in PD patients with oculomotor deficits.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
27
Inclusion Criteria
  • Parkinson's Disease diagnosed by a neurologist or geriatrician with the range of Stage

    1 to 4 (Hoehn and Yahr Classification)

  • Able to speak and comprehend Cantonese dialect

  • Able to travel independently

Exclusion Criteria
  • Any congenital eye problem (e.g. congenital strabismus or amblyopia in either eye) or any manifest eye diseases (e.g. macular degeneration, glaucoma, etc)
  • Severe medical problems (e.g. stroke)
  • Cognitive impairment (e.g. dementia)
  • Presence of any psychiatric or neurological diseases (apart from Parkinson's disease) or receiving of any psychoactive pharmacological treatment
  • Receiving any medication that is known to affect eye movement and cognitive function
  • Previous formal vision rehabilitation or oculomotor intervention

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Control GroupControl GroupReceive 10 sessions of 45-minute (3 sessions per week) in-office leisure activities e.g. simple non-action computer games or board games (e.g. card and chess games) and 10-20 minutes of video watching at home
Intervention GroupOculomotor Training GroupReceive 10 sessions of 45-minute office training (3 sessions per week) and 10-20 minute home training (3 sessions per week) of eye movement training
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Smooth Vergence eye movementsChange from baseline at week 4 and change from baseline at week 12

Smooth vergence eye movement is measured using a head-mounted eye tracking while fixating at an approaching target moving at different speeds

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Oculomotor characteristicsChange from baseline at week 4 and change from baseline at week 12

With the use of eye tracking device, eye movement behavior of participants can be measured and analysed while performing the following tasks.

1. Fixation task - Fixate at stationary target presented on a monitor

2. Saccade task - Follow and fixate at a random jumping target presented on a monitor

3. Pursuit task - Follow accurately and steadily on a smooth moving target presented on a monitor

4. Jump Vergence task - Follow and fixate a jumping target presented in the anterior-posterior plane (jumping from 'far to near' or 'near to far')

Sentence reading performanceChange from baseline at week 4 and change from baseline at week 12

To evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions on sentence reading using MNREAD charts in Chinese. These charts developed in our laboratory are used to measure the effectiveness of sentence reading in terms of reading speed and critical print size.

Passage reading performanceChange from baseline at week 4 and change from baseline at week 12

To evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions on passage reading using International Reading speed Test (IReST). IReST is used to evaluate the effectiveness of passage reading performance by measuring the reading speed.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Allen MY Cheong

🇭🇰

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

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