Using travel diaries to capture real-world mobility behaviours in Parkinson’s disease

Background: 

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder primarily affecting movement. One of the consequences is therefore reduced mobility, which significantly impacts independence and quality of life. Accurate quantification of mobility and travel is important to potentially track progression and response to treatments. METHOD: We recruited 147 individuals with PD (55 females, 92 males, mean age 74.8 ± 7.93, range 51–97) who completed a travel diary over seven days.

Results: 

The median duration of PD was 6.2 years (IQR, 4.3–9.9) and mean Hoehn and Yahr stage was 2.7 ± 1.1 (n = 146). Of the travel diaries, 47 (32%) were complete, 92 (63%) were partially complete and 8 (5%) were incomplete. Data was most commonly missing at bedtime collection point (41%). For complete data sets, the median number of trips people made per day was 2.3 (IQR, 1.5–3.4) and the majority of these trips used passive means of transport, median 1.6 (IQR, 0.8–2.1). Three individuals recorded no trips during the study period. Participants visited a median of 1.3 (IQR, 0.9–2.0) locations per day and most frequently this was to supermarkets/retail shops.

Discussion: 

We were able to describe travel and mobility in a small subset of our participants who were able to complete the travel diary. However, we have also demonstrated a high rate of partial completion and incomplete data collection, suggesting that alternative means of capturing mobility and travel in PD should be explored.