Effectiveness of Oculomotor Training in Parkinson's Disease

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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.

Official Title
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Oculomotor Deficits in Parkinson's Disease: Enhancing Eye Movement Performance and Dynamic Visual Acuity With Oculomotor Training Using a Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial Design

Conditions
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Parkinson Disease, Oculomotor; Disorder

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Control Group
* Other: Oculomotor Training Group


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 40 Years
Maximum Age: 70 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Placebo Comparator: Control Group<br>Receive 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 | Other: Control Group<br>* Leisure activities<br>|
| Active Comparator: Intervention Group<br>Receive 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 | Other: Oculomotor Training Group<br>* Eye movement training<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Smooth Vergence eye movements | Smooth vergence eye movement is measured using a head-mounted eye tracking while fixating at an approaching target moving at different speeds | Change from baseline at week 4 and change from baseline at week 12 | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Oculomotor characteristics | With the use of eye tracking device, eye movement behavior of participants can be measured and analysed while performing the following tasks. Fixation task - Fixate at stationary target presented on a monitor Saccade task - Follow and fixate at a random jumping target presented on a monitor Pursuit task - Follow accurately and steadily on a smooth moving target presented on a monitor Jump Vergence task - Follow and fixate a jumping target presented in the anterior-posterior plane (jumping from 'far to near' or 'near to far') | Change from baseline at week 4 and change from baseline at week 12 | 
| Sentence reading performance | 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. | Change from baseline at week 4 and change from baseline at week 12 | 
| Passage reading performance | 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. | Change from baseline at week 4 and change from baseline at week 12 | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Oculomotor deficit, Oculomotor training, Dynamic vision, Parkinson Disease