title: Screening for Parkinson's disease with response time batteries: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although significant response time deficits (both reaction time and movement time) have been identified in numerous studies of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), few attempts have been made to evaluate the use of these measures in screening for PD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to identify cutoff scores for a unit-weighted composite of two choice response tasks in a sample of 40 patients and 40 healthy participants. These scores were then cross-validated in an independent sample of 20 patients and 20 healthy participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The unit-weighted movement time composite demonstrated high sensitivity (90%) and specificity (90%) in the identification of PD. Movement time was also significantly correlated (r = 0.59, p < 0.025) with the motor score of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Measures of chronometric speed, assessed without the use of biomechanically complex movements, have a potential role in screening for PD. Furthermore, the significant correlation between movement time and UPDRS motor score suggests that movement time may be useful in the quantification of PD severity.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. ajohnson@uwo.ca
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Vernon
authors.forename: Quincy J
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Linda L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Grantier
authors.forename: Rene
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Singarayer
authors.forename: Mandar S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jog
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000379:methods*; D009864:Ontario; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index