The Sensitivity and Specificity of Canine Detection of Parkinson's Disease

People sometimes report that their relatives who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) have a unique smell. A previous study has demonstrated that PD patients do have smell that is different from that of healthy people. Sniffer dogs have long been used to identify criminals, and recently been used to identify subject with cancer. The investigators hypothesized that sniffer dogs may be able to identify PD patients.

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Key information

Conditions

Parkinson Disease Basal Ganglia Diseases Brain Diseases Central Nervous System Diseases Movement Disorders Nervous System Diseases Neurodegenerative Diseases Parkinsonian Disorders Synucleinopathies

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

XiangYa Hospital

Changsha, Hunan, 410008, China

About this study

Parkinson's Disease is a neurodegeneration disorder that affects the life of millions of people worldwide. There are multiple drugs available now that can modify the process of the disease. Making a timely and correct diagnosis of PD is still a great challenge in many cases even for specialists. Correct diagnosis is fundamental to the appropriate administration of medicines. To help clinicians to quickly and correctly make a diagnosis, the investigators aim to use sniffer dogs to identify PD patients from clearly non-PD subjects. After more than one-year training of the dogs, the investigators found that it is feasible to use dogs to identify PD patients from non-PD subjects. Now the investigators are trying to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of sniffer dogs in identifying PD patients from non-PD subjects.

In this multicenter study, the clinicians and their assistants will collect samples and send to the study center. One researcher alone will put seven plastic bags containing matched samples (one PD sample and six non-PD samples) on a table and take notes, then relabel them with random numbers and take notes again, and keep them in a confidential place till the study is completed. Another researcher will take over the relabeled samples and put them into different tanks and take notes. Thus, both the experimenter who helps to place the samples into tanks and the dog handler will not know the nature of the samples. Test results will be compared with the notes of the blind-setter after all the experiments have been performed. The sensitivity and specificity of identification will be calculated. The study aims to test the hypothesis that the diagnostic sensitivity of sniffer dogs in identifying PD patients from non-PD subjects is over 90%.

Who can participate

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Clinically established PD patients
Clearly non-PD subjects will be recruited as controls

Exclusion criteria

subjects with tremor or decrease of olfactory power or with rapid eye movement sleep behavior, obvious constipation, and depression.
subjects who are taking antipsychotics.
subjects with incomplete data.

Treatment and study plan

Primary outcomes

The specificity and sensitivity of the identification of PD patients from non-PD by at least 2 out of 3 sniffer dogs

Time frame: Samples taken at the time of participant enrolment and assessed by the sniffer dogs within 20 weeks

Sensitivity = number of samples of PD patients that were correctly identified by dogs/[number of samples of PD patients that were correctly identified+ number of samples of PD patients missed by the dogs]. One sample will be taken per patient.

Specificity = number of samples of non-PD subjects that were correctly identified by dogs/[number of samples of non-PD subjects that were correctly identified by dogs + number of non-PD subjects that were identified as PD]. One sample will be taken per subject.

Secondary outcomes

Assess the accuracy of identification by sniffer dogs for PD patients with disease duration over five years and for those with disease duration within five years of diagnosis.

Time frame: Samples taken at the time of participant enrolment and assessed by the sniffer dogs within 20 weeks

Calculate sensitivity and specificity as mentioned above, but in two sub-populations: 1. PD patients with disease duration within 5 years and their control subjects; 2. PD patients with disease duration over 5 years and their control subjects.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Central South University

Other

Collaborators

Mingji Hospital
University of South China

Registry information

Official study title

The Sensitivity and Specificity of Sniffer Dogs for Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease: Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Important dates

Study start: 2020
Primary completion: 2021
Study completion: 2021
First posted: Nov 3, 2020
Registry last updated: Sep 27, 2021

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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