Effectiveness of Oculomotor Training in Parkinson's Disease

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

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Parkinson Disease; Oculomotor; Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Control Group; Other: Oculomotor Training Group

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 27
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • Allen MY Cheong

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 40 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

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 Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Control Group; 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; Leisure activities
Active Comparator: Intervention Group; 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; Eye movement training

What is the study measuring?

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

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Collaborators: University of California, Berkeley; Chinese University of Hong Kong; Hospital Authority, Hong Kong; Deakin University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Allen Ming Yan Cheong, PhD, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 3, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 7, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 22, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): September 23, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 29, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 28, 2024
• Last Verified: October 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Parkinson Disease; Oculomotor deficit; Oculomotor training; Dynamic vision
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Synucleinopathies; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Movement Disorders; Parkinsonian Disorders; Basal Ganglia Diseases; Parkinson Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: 15102717

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No