Evaluation of Wearable Sensor Devices in Parkinson’s Disease: A Review of Current Status and Future Prospects

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) decreases the quality of life of the affected individuals. The incidence of PD is expected to increase given the growing aging population. Motor symptoms associated with PD render the patients unable to self-care and function properly. Given that several drugs have been developed to control motor symptoms, highly sensitive scales for clinical evaluation of drug efficacy are needed. Among such scales, the objective and continuous evaluation of wearable devices is increasingly utilized by clinicians and patients. Several electronic technologies have revolutionized the clinical monitoring of PD development, especially its motor symptoms. Here, we review and discuss the recent advances in the development of wearable devices for bradykinesia, tremor, gait, and myotonia. Our aim is to capture the experiences of patients and clinicians, as well as expand our understanding on the application of wearable technology. In so-doing, we lay the foundation for further research into the use of wearable technology in the management of PD.

Slow Motion Analysis of Repetitive Tapping (SMART) Test: Measuring Bradykinesia in Recently Diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease and Idiopathic Anosmia

“…Based on these findings, the presence of motor features in some patients with anosmia might be expected. The fact that UPDRS-III is often normal in patients with anosmia suggests that other assessments adapted for early stages of PD are needed [37].…”

Video-based automated analysis of MDS-UPDRS III parameters in Parkinson disease

“…It is noteworthy that this deep-learning analysis of parkinsonian movement could be extended to other body parts (e.g., feet movements, hypomimia, posture) and therefore most of the MDS-UPDRS III procedures. Thus, a wide range of movement disorders, such as tremor or chorea, could be eligible to this strategy of evaluation [16,37].…”

“…Although digital tools have been recently developed in an attempt to improve bradykinesia scoring by providing quantitative measures [14][15][16], they exhibit limited use in practice because of wearable sensors on patients [17] in a dedicated room or in specific conditions [15,18,19]. More recent studies aimed to circumvent these material issues by developing video-based only tools.…”

Slow Motion Analysis of Repetitive Tapping (SMART) test: measuring bradykinesia in recently diagnosed Parkinson’s disease and idiopathic anosmia

“…Based on these findings, the presence of motor features in some patients with anosmia might be expected. The fact that UPDRS-III is often normal in patients with anosmia suggests that other assessments adapted for early stages of PD are needed [36] .…”