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An Oxford University researcher and her team have shown that digital wearable devices can track the progression of Parkinson’s disease in an individual more effectively than human clinical observation, according to a newly published study. paper.
By tracking more than 100 metrics collected by the devices, the researchers were able to discern subtle changes in the movements of subjects with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disease that It afflicts 10 million people around the world.
The lead researcher emphasized that the latest findings were not a treatment for Parkinson’s. Rather, they are a means to help scientists evaluate whether new drugs and other therapies for Parkinson’s are slowing the progression of the disease.
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The sensors (six per subject, placed on the chest, at the base of the spine, and one on each wrist and foot) tracked 122 physiological metrics. Several dozen metrics stood out that closely indicated the progression of the disease, including the direction a finger moved during a step and the length and regularity of strides.
“We have the biomarker,” said Chrystalina Antoniades, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford and lead researcher on the paper, which was published earlier this month in the journal npj Parkinson’s Disease. “It’s super exciting. Now we hope to be able to tell them: Is a drug working?”
Until now, Dr. Antoniades said, trials of Parkinson’s drugs had been based on clinical assessment of whether a treatment was slowing the progression of the disease. But clinical observation can miss changes that occur day to day or that might not appear clearly during regular visits to the doctor, he added.
In the paper, the study authors concluded that the sensors proved more effective in tracking disease progression “than conventionally used clinical rating scales.”
How it looks
To capture the user’s various movements, the sensors employed technologies, including accelerometers and gyroscopes, that have become increasingly common in digital watches and smartphones. Together, these devices can measure a person’s direction, gait, regularity of movement, and more.
After the results were published, Dr. Antoniades and her team were inundated with messages from colleagues and the media asking if they had found a cure for Parkinson’s. She said she wanted to make clear that the breakthrough, while important, was a tool that could speed up the development of treatments for the disease, but that it was not the answer.
Whats Next
Dr. Antoniades said she was optimistic about the possibility of using such sensors to track other diseases, perhaps even Alzheimer’s: a “plethora of diseases that combine bioengineering, clinical science and movement science.”
Human doctors will remain a vital part of the process, he added, and sensors will complement doctors’ observations. The hope, Dr. Antoniades said, “is that this improves your doctor’s ability to do it well.”