Smartwatches could help to predict Parkinson’s up to seven years before a clinical diagnosis, according to research by Cardiff University in the UK.
Wearable technology that tracks accelerometry (acceleration of motion) could help to identify people who are most likely to develop Parkinson’s, researchers from the University’s Neuroscience and Mental Health Innovation Institute (NMHII) and the UK Dementia Research Institute found.
While Parkinson’s is largely recognised for its motor symptoms, non-motor changes in the earlier or prodromal stage of the condition can predate the onset of these symptoms by many years.
Dr Kathryn Peall, Clinical Senior Lecturer in the NMHII, said: “Parkinson’s disease is a progressive movement disorder caused by the loss of brain cells that use dopamine. However, by the time of clinical diagnosis approximately 50-70 per cent of these brain cells will have been lost. This makes early diagnosis of the disease difficult.
“We know that as Parkinson’s disease develops, there are changes to the speed of movement, so we investigated whether accelerometry could work as a prodromal marker for Parkinson’s disease, and ultimately allow for earlier diagnosis.”
Using data from over 500,000 individuals aged 40-69 years, the researchers compared data on accelerometry to models based on genetics, lifestyle, blood biochemistry, and prodromal symptoms data.
They found that computer programmes trained using the accelerometry data performed the best in being able to distinguish both those with clinically diagnosed Parkinson’s and prodromal Parkinson’s from the general population.
Dr Cynthia Sandor, from Cardiff University’s Dementia Research Institute, which supported the study, said: “To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the clinical value of accelerometry-based biomarkers for prodromal Parkinson’s disease in the general population. Our results showed a pre-diagnosis reduction in acceleration was unique to Parkinson’s disease and was not observed for any other disorder that we examined.
“It suggests that accelerometery could be used to identify those at elevated risk for Parkinson’s disease on an unprecedented scale.
“In a clinical setting, continuous or semi-continuous monitoring of individuals can’t be achieved because of time, cost, accessibility and sensitivity. But smart devices capable of collecting accelerometer data are worn daily by millions of people.
“While much more work will need to be done before this is put into clinical practice, our discovery marks a significant leap forward in the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, and suggests that devices such as activity trackers and smartwatches could play a key role in clinical monitoring.”
Read the full paper Wearable Movement-Tracking Data Identify Parkinson’s Disease Years Before Clinical Diagnosis published in Nature Medicine.
