We’ve all heard about the many things our smartphones and smartwatches can do—count our steps, track our sleep, and even measure our heart rate.
But what if these everyday gadgets could help in detecting and tracking diseases like Parkinson’s? According to new research by neurologists at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), they can.
The Challenge with Traditional Tracking Methods
Parkinson’s disease is one of the fastest-growing brain diseases globally. While medications exist, they’re pretty outdated.
Part of the challenge in developing new treatments is that Parkinson’s affects people very differently. Symptoms like stiffness, difficulty in walking, and tremors can vary widely between individuals.
Traditional ways to track these symptoms rely on periodic check-ups at a doctor’s office. These methods are not only irregular but also lack the ability to capture the full range of symptoms people experience in their day-to-day lives.
Enter Smart Tech
The URMC team isn’t new to blending technology and healthcare. They have been leading the way in using digital health tech—like telemedicine and mobile apps—to improve patient care.
One of their earlier successes was a smartphone app called mPower, launched in 2015 in collaboration with Sage Bionetworks.
This app could monitor Parkinson’s symptoms in real time and even got a shout-out during an Apple product launch event.
Building on that, the researchers have now turned their attention to the latest smartwatches and smartphones. With advanced sensors, these gadgets can measure movement very precisely.
In a study named WATCH-PD, they enrolled 82 individuals with early, untreated Parkinson’s and 50 people without the disease for comparison.
These participants wore research-grade sensors, an Apple Watch, and carried an iPhone.
They had to do standardized tasks during clinic visits and wear the smartwatch for a week afterward, also performing tasks on the smartphone every other week.
What they found was exciting. These gadgets could track a wide range of symptoms, from finger-tapping speeds to tremors and even speech abnormalities, some of which were missed by traditional methods.
The Road Ahead
The findings were promising but are part of a larger ongoing study. “These early results show that smart devices can spot differences between people with and without early-stage Parkinson’s.
They’re even better than some of our current methods in capturing certain symptoms,” said Jamie Adams, MD, the study’s first author.
Adams points out that, for example, the smartphone app could detect speech issues that were rated as ‘normal’ using traditional scales.
“Better measures will make it easier and quicker to evaluate new treatments,” he adds.
So, what’s next? The researchers are planning longer studies to figure out which digital measures are most helpful for tracking the progression of the disease and evaluating new treatments.
As technology continues to advance, it’s not hard to imagine a future where our everyday gadgets become our personal healthcare companions—always there, always monitoring, and helping us live healthier lives.
If you care about Parkinson’s disease, please read studies about Vitamin E that may help prevent Parkinson’s disease, and Vitamin D could benefit people with Parkinson’s disease.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about new way to treat Parkinson’s disease, and results showing COVID-19 may be linked to Parkinson’s disease.
The research findings can be found in npj Parkinson’s Disease.
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