ORCID

Abstract

Background: Gait and balance impairment can profoundly impact people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Objectives: To evaluate the analytical and clinical validity of the U-Turn Test (UTT), a smartphone-based assessment of dynamic balance in PwMS. Methods: The GaitLab study (ISRCTN15993728) enrolled adult PwMS (EDSS 0.0 – 6.5). PwMS performed the UTT in a gait laboratory (supervised) using six smartphones at different wear locations and daily during a two-week remote period (unsupervised) using one smartphone (belt front). Median turn speed was computed per UTT. In the supervised setting, turn detection accuracy of smartphones was compared to motion capture (mocap) via F1 scores. Agreement between smartphone- and mocap-derived turn speed was assessed by Bland-Altman and ICC(3,1). In the unsupervised setting, test-retest reliability (ICC[2,1]) and correlations with Timed 25-Foot Walk (T25FW), EDSS, Ambulation score, 12-item Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale (MSWS-12), and Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale (ABC) were evaluated. Results: Ninety-six PwMS were included. Turn speed was comparable across supervised (1.44 rad/s) and unsupervised settings (1.47 rad/s). In the supervised setting, turn detection was highly accurate (F1 > 95% across wear locations). Turn speed agreement with mocap was high (ICC[3,1]: 0.87 – 0.92), with minimal bias (-0.04 to 0.11 rad/s). Unsupervised test-retest reliability (ICC[2,1]) was > 0.90 when aggregating ≥ 2 tests. Turn speed correlated with T25FW (rho = -0.79), EDSS (rho = -0.75), Ambulation score (rho = -0.73), MSWS-12 (rho = -0.65), and ABC (rho = -0.61). Conclusion: The UTT accurately and reproducibly measures turn speed across wear locations and settings, providing complementary dynamic balance insights to clinical measures and showing potential for use in multiple sclerosis trials.

Publication Date

2026-03-31

Publication Title

Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders

Volume

110

ISSN

2211-0348

Acceptance Date

2026-03-30

Deposit Date

2026-04-08

Funding

The authors would like to thank all study participants and their families. We would also like to thank the following (former) colleagues at F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd for their contributions to and support of the study: Matthias Bobst, Alan K. Bourke, Adrian Derungs, Sandro Fritz, Francisco Gavidia, Thomas Hahn, Petra Hauser, Wiktoria Kasprzyk, Dominik Kedziora, Kostas Kritsas, Hugo Le Gall, Dominik Lenart, Michael Lindemann, Florian Lipsmeier, Arnaud Mousley, Kathrin Müsch, Madalina Ogica, Emanuele Passerini, Grégoire Pointeau, and Elena Spyridou. The authors would also like to thank colleagues at Plymouth for their contributions and support to the study: Tanya King, Joanne Lind, Carol Lunn, and Maureen Pedder. Writing and editorial assistance for this manuscript was provided by Sven Holm, PhD, contractor for F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. This research was funded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd , Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

Analytical validity, Balance, Clinical validity, Digital health, Multiple sclerosis, Smartphone, Turning

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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