Data normalization and supervised learning to assess the condition of patients with multiple sclerosis based on gait analysis

Gait impairment is considered as an important feature of disability in multiple sclerosis but its evaluation in the clinical routine remains limited. In this paper, we assess, by means of supervised learning, the condition of patients with multiple sclerosis based on their gait descriptors obtained with a gait analysis system. As the morphological characteristics of individuals influence their gait while being in first approximation independent of the disease level, an original strategy of data normalization with respect to these characteristics is described and applied beforehand in order to obtain more reliable predictions. In addition, we explain how we address the problem of missing data which is a common issue in the field of clinical evaluation. Results show that, based on machine learning combined to the proposed data handling techniques, we can predict a score highly correlated with the condition of patients.