Observational studyJournal of neurology2026
Longitudinal changes in effective connectivity associated with worsening freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease: a resting-state functional MRI study.
Observational study in Journal of neurology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFreezing of gait (FOG) is a key contributor to gait impairment in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Previously, we found freezing-specific increased effective connectivity from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR), but it is yet unknown whether effective connectivity changes with FOG progression.
objectiveThe primary objective of this study was to evaluate effective connectivity changes in freezers over time and their association with gray matter structural alterations.
methodsIn this longitudinal study, spanning 2 years, we analyzed 51 patients (27 freezers and 24 non-freezers) for the main effective connectivity, and 88 patients (44 freezers and 44 non-freezers) and 37 age-matched healthy controls for structural volume analysis. Spectral dynamic causal modeling (DCM) with hierarchical empirical Bayes approaches was performed.
resultsFreezers reported a significant worsening of FOG over time. Longitudinally, abnormally increased functional connectivity was observed between the bilateral cerebellar lobule VIIb and the MLR. Spectral DCM revealed that the previously identified increase in DLPFC-to-MLR effective connectivity was lost at follow-up. In contrast, an increased inhibitory effective connectivity from the left cerebellar lobule VIIb to the right MLR emerged (posterior probability > 0.99). This was associated with slower FOG progression, but not with structural volume changes.
conclusionsWe found that the pattern of FOG-related effective connectivity changed over time, characterized by increasing inhibitory connectivity from the cerebellum to MLR, while frontal compensatory influences were no longer apparent. Future study needs to focus on how compensatory cortical mechanisms could be optimized to counteract FOG progression. CLINICAL
trial registrationThis study was registered in the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trial Registry (UMIN-CTR 000036570) on 22 April 2019.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.