Parkinson's disease: current assessment methods and wearable devices for evaluation of movement disorder motor symptoms - a patient and healthcare professional perspective

AlMahadin, G, Lotfi, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5139-6565, Zysk, E, Siena, FL ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6908-7365, Carthy, MM and Breedon, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1006-0942, 2020. Parkinson's disease: current assessment methods and wearable devices for evaluation of movement disorder motor symptoms - a patient and healthcare professional perspective. BMC Neurology, 20 (1): 419.

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Abstract

Background: Parkinson's disease is the second most common long-term chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disease, affecting more than 10 million people worldwide. There has been a rising interest in wearable devices for evaluation of movement disorder diseases such as Parkinson’s disease due to the limitations in current clinic assessment methods such as Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) scale. However, there are only a few commercial wearable devices available, which, in addition, have had very limited adoption and implementation. This inconsistency may be due to a lack of users' perspectives in terms of device design and implementation. This study aims to identify the perspectives of healthcare professionals and patients linked to current assessment methods and to identify preferences, and requirements of wearable devices.

Methods: This was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews followed by focus groups. Transcripts from sessions were analysed using an inductive thematic approach.

Results: It was noted that the well-known assessment process such as Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) was not used routinely in clinics since it is time consuming, subjective, inaccurate, infrequent and dependent on patients' memories. Participants suggested that objective assessment methods are needed to increase the chance of effective treatment. The participants' perspectives were positive toward using wearable devices, particularly if they were involved in early design stages. Patients emphasized that the devices should be comfortable, but they did not have any concerns regarding device visibility or data privacy transmitted over the internet when it comes to their health. In terms of wearing a monitor, the preferable part of the body for all participants was the wrist. Healthcare professionals stated a need for an economical solution that is easy to interpret. Some design aspects identified by patients included clasps, material choice, and form factor.

Conclusion: The study concluded that current assessment methods are limited. Patients’ and healthcare professionals' involvement in wearable devices design process has a pivotal role in terms of ultimate user acceptance. This includes the provision of additional functions to the wearable device, such as fall detection and medication reminders, which could be attractive features for patients.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	BMC Neurology
Creators:	AlMahadin, G., Lotfi, A., Zysk, E., Siena, F.L., Carthy, M.M. and Breedon, P.
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date:	December 2020
Volume:	20
Number:	1
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1186/s12883-020-01996-7 DOI 1389641 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	20 Nov 2020 09:59
Last Modified:	31 May 2021 15:13
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/41672

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