Motor-Derived Digital Biomarkers for Identifying Low-MoCA Status in People with Parkinson’s Disease

Cognitive impairment is a prevalent non-motor manifestation of Parkinson's disease (PD), yet early detection remains limited by the sensitivity of conventional cognitive assessments. Emerging evidence suggests that motor dysfunction, particularly gait and balance abnormalities, reflects underlying cognitive vulnerability. This study examined motor-cognitive associations and evaluated whether motor-derived features can be used to classify low-MoCA status in PD without direct cognitive testing. Data from 102 individuals with PD were analyzed, incorporating clinical assessments, physical function measures, lifestyle factors, and gait-derived biomarkers. Multiple regression identified Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part III, stride length of the more affected side during 360° turning at preferred speed, and maximum ankle jerk on the less affected side during forward walking as independent predictors of Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores, collectively explaining 34.7% of the variance. Network analysis revealed integrative relationships among global motor severity, gait smoothness, and cognitive performance. Using a compact motor-based feature set, logistic regression achieved a mean accuracy of 65.8% and an AUC of 0.737 in classifying low-MoCA status under cross-validation. These findings demonstrate that motor-derived digital biomarkers capture clinically meaningful information about cognitive status in PD and may serve as adjunctive tools for identifying cognitive vulnerability in clinical settings.