Smartwatch reveals invisible symptoms of Parkinson's disease Smart sensors provide healthcare providers with more insight into disease progression

Next to slowness and shaking, people with Parkinson's disease also experience complaints that have nothing to do with movement. These symptoms, including sleep problems, have a major impact on the quality of life, but receive little attention in Parkinson's research. Scientists from Radboud university medical center therefore advocate the use of smart sensors that measure these symptoms at home.

In the Netherlands, more than 60,000 people live with Parkinson's disease, and that number is growing rapidly. When you think of Parkinson's, you mainly think of slowness and shaking, but other complaints are also common. These include sleeping problems, depressive complaints, reduced cognitive performance, and urinary problems. However, hardly any attention has been paid to these symptoms in Parkinson's research. Wrongly, as they have a major influence on the quality of life. Researchers at Radboud university medical center investigated how they can measure these complaints in the home situation.  

Sleep sensors

The research team went through the worldwide scientific literature in search of measurement methods. They did not limit themselves to research on people with Parkinson's, but also looked at other conditions. Especially smart sensors that improve sleep quality proved promising. In almost all cases this concerns measurements on the wrist, for example by smartwatches. These produce surprisingly reliable results, compared to an extensive sleep study that requires admission to a hospital or specialized clinic.

People with Parkinson's disease participated in the literature study as “patient researchers”. Researcher Jules Janssen Daalen explains: 'We involved them at an early stage and they played an important role. For instance, they assessed which sensors are really feasible to use in daily life, especially if you have to use them for years.' The smartwatches also performed well in this respect. Other innovative measurement methods, such as smart toilets that measure urine and sensors in the living room that monitor your behavior, are less appealing to the patient researchers. These have a much greater impact on privacy, and their added value in Parkinson's disease has not yet been proven.

Better picture

The researchers hope that thanks to their study, smart sensors will be used more often in Parkinson's research. If so, people will have to come to the hospital less often for measurements. This makes participation in research easier, especially for people who live further away. Healthcare providers also benefit from measurements taken over a longer period of time in the home situation. They get a better picture of the course of the disease than with just snapshots in the hospital. 

‘In the hospital we take a photo of the patient, as it were, while a film provides much more information’, says neurologist Bas Bloem, who led the research. 'Moreover, continuous home measurements are much more reliable than asking people about symptoms during a hospital visit. Especially because memory problems are frequent in people with Parkinson's disease. With sensors, doctors will be able to treat people with Parkinson's better and in a more personalized way in the future.'

About the publication

This study was published in npj Digital Medicine: Digital biomarkers for non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease: the state of the art. J.M. Janssen Daalen, R. van den Bergh, E. Prins, M.S.C. Moghadam, R. van den Heuvel, J. Veen, S. Mathur, H. Meijerink, A. Mirelman, S.K.L. Darweesh, L. Evers, B.R. Bloem.  DOI: 10.1038/s41746-024-01144-2.

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