Media type: E-Article Title: Digital Gait Biomarkers Allow to Capture 1‐Year Longitudinal Change in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3 Contributor: Ilg, Winfried; Müller, Björn; Faber, Jennifer; van Gaalen, Judith; Hengel, Holger; Vogt, Ina R.; Hennes, Guido; van de Warrenburg, Bart; Klockgether, Thomas; Schöls, Ludger; Synofzik, Matthis Published: Wiley, 2022 Published in: Movement Disorders, 37 (2022) 11, Seite 2295-2301 Language: English DOI: 10.1002/mds.29206 ISSN: 0885-3185; 1531-8257 Origination: Footnote: Description: ABSTRACTMeasures of step variability and body sway during gait have shown to correlate with clinical ataxia severity in several cross‐sectional studies. However, to serve as a valid progression biomarker, these gait measures have to prove their sensitivity to robustly capture longitudinal change, ideally within short time frames (eg, 1 year). We present the first multicenter longitudinal gait analysis study in spinocerebellar ataxias. We performed a combined cross‐sectional (n = 28) and longitudinal (1‐year interval, n = 17) analysis in Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 3 subjects (including seven preataxic mutation carriers). Longitudinal analysis showed significant change in gait measures between baseline and 1‐year follow‐up, with high effect sizes (stride length variability: P = 0.01, effect size rprb = 0.66; lateral sway: P = 0.007, rprb = 0.73). Sample size estimation for lateral sway indicates a required cohort size of n = 43 for detecting a 50% reduction of natural progression, compared with n = 240 for the clinical ataxia score Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA). These measures thus present promising motor biomarkers for upcoming interventional studies. © 2022 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society