Smartwatches Offer Window into Parkinson's Disease Progression

Ubiquitous wearable technologies, like smartwatches, could help researchers better understand progressive neurological disorders like #Parkinson’s disease and speed up the approval of new therapies, a critical need given that no drugs exist to slow progression of the world’s fastest growing brain disease.
New research in the journal njp Parkinson’s Disease - www.nature.com/articles/s4153...
This research adds to growing evidence that widely used and user-friendly consumer devices, in this instance an Apple Watch paired with an iPhone, can detect changes in Parkinson’s symptoms over time in individuals in the early stages of the disease.
“Digital measures hold the promise to provide objective, sensitive, real-world measures of disease progression in Parkinson’s disease,” said Jamie Adams, MD, an associate professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, the Center for Health + Technology, and lead author of the study. “This study shows that data generated by smartwatches and smartphones can remotely monitor and detect changes in multiple domains of the disease. These digital assessments could help evaluate the efficacy of future therapies.”
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