Investigating voice as a biomarker for leucine-rich repeat kinase 2-associated Parkinson’s disease

Authors :: Elizabeth Slow
Amaal AlDakheel
Drew S. Kern
Max A. Little
Carmen Gasca-Salas
Barbara S. Connolly
Naomi P. Visanji
Jennifer Jain
Athanasios Tsanas
Tiago A. Mestre
Siddharth Arora
Achinoam Faust-Socher
Anthony E. Lang
Connie Marras
Source :: Arora, S, Visanji, N P, Mestre, T A, Tsanas, A, AlDakheel, A, Connolly, B S, Gasca-Salas, C, Kern, D S, Jain, J, Slow, E J, Faust-Socher, A, Lang, A E, Little, M A & Marras, C 2018, ' Investigating Voice as a Biomarker for Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2-Associated Parkinson's Disease ', Journal of Parkinson's disease . https://doi.org/10.3233/JPD-181389
Publication Year :: 2018
Abstract: We investigate the potential association between leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) mutations and voice. Sustained phonations ('aaah' sounds) were recorded from 7 individuals with LRRK2-associated Parkinson's disease (PD), 17 participants with idiopathic PD (iPD), 20 non-manifesting LRRK2-mutation carriers, 25 related non-carriers, and 26 controls. In distinguishing LRRK2-associated PD and iPD, the mean sensitivity was 95.4% (SD 17.8%) and mean specificity was 89.6% (SD 26.5%). Voice features for non-manifesting carriers, related non-carriers, and controls were much less discriminatory. Vocal deficits in LRRK2-associated PD may be different than those in iPD. These preliminary results warrant longitudinal analyses and replication in larger cohorts.

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