Study shows that digital devices can provide objective and real-world measures of Parkinson disease, capturing key motor and nonmotor features of for early diagnosis of the neurodegenerative disorder.
The results of a 12-month observational study called WATCH-PD were recently published in Nature. The study looked at the connection between digital biomarkers collected from a wearable device called Clinical ink and traditional clinical scoring methods used for Parkinson’s disease. The findings showed that digital measures from smart devices can detect both motor and nonmotor features in early-stage Parkinson’s patients.
During gait analysis, data from smartphones and smartwatches were collected from 72 Parkinson’s patients and 41 controls. The data revealed that Parkinson’s patients had smaller arm swing magnitude and various gait abnormalities compared to the controls. The measurements from the smartwatch and smartphone strongly correlated with those obtained from research-grade wearable sensors.
The lead author, Dr. Jamie L. Adams, an associate professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and colleagues emphasized the potential of digital health technologies in improving our understanding of Parkinson’s disease. They suggested that these technologies can provide objective measures of PD symptoms that are not captured by traditional rating scales. However, they also noted the need for further research to address the limitations associated with these devices.
(Source : PubMed )
