Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice ›› 2026, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (6): 699-707.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-9771.2026.06.008

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Prediction factors of dual-task gait function improvement through short-term aerobic training in patients with Parkinson's disease

JIAO Yang1a, HU Xinru1a, HOU Weijia1a, WANG Yue1a, WANG Jin1b, YU Yang1a, ZHU Zhizhong1a(), DONG Ying2,3()   

  1. 1 a. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, b. Department of Neurology, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin 300350, China
    2 Department of Rehabilitation Information Research, China Rehabilitation Science Institute, Beijing 100068, China
    3 World Health Organization Family of International Classifications Collaborating Centre in China, Beijing 100068, China
  • Received:2026-01-28 Revised:2026-03-23 Published:2026-06-25 Online:2026-06-24
  • Supported by:
    Tianjin Health Research Project(TJWJ2022MS033);Tianjin Key Medical Discipline Construction Project(TJYXZDXK-3-014B)

Abstract:

Objective To construct a prediction model for high responsiveness to short-term aerobic training in patients with Parkinson's disease(PD)based on dual-task gait assessment, and to provide evidence for identifying individuals who are most likely to benefit from such interventions.
Methods A total of 42 patients with PD who visited the outpatient clinic of Tianjin Huanhu Hospital between August 29, 2023 and December 19, 2024 were enrolled. All participants completed a 4-week home-based aerobic cycling training program and underwent dual-task gait assessments pre- and post-training. Patients were classified into high-response group(n=12)and low-response group(n=30)according to whether the improvement in gait speed reached the minimal clinically important difference of 0.1 m/s. The clinical validity of this grouping was verified by comparing differences in cardiopulmonary exercise testing parameters and dual-task gait indicators between the two groups pre- and post-training. Based on baseline characteristics, Firth's penalized maximum likelihood logistic regression was applied to construct a predictive model for high responsiveness, and the discriminative performance of the model was assessed preliminarily.
Results The high-response group showed significantly greater improvement in gait speed, step length, cadence and the anaerobic threshold to maximal oxygen uptake ratio after training compared with the low-response group(P<0.05), confirming the clinical validity of the grouping. The baseline anaerobic threshold to maximal oxygen uptake ratio(OR=3.348), body mass index(OR=2.229)and age(OR=0.428)demonstrated certain discriminative ability in the present sample. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.831, with an overall prediction accuracy of 81.0%, specificity of 83.3% and sensitivity of 75.0%. Robustness of the model was confirmed via internal validation using the Bootstrap method, which suggested that the results were informative, but further validation was still required.
Conclusion The anaerobic threshold/maximal oxygen uptake ratio, body mass index and age may predict the response to short-term aerobic training in patients with PD.

Key words: Parkinson's disease, short-term aerobic training, response, regression model, dual-task gait

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