Smartwatches could provide early Parkinson’s diagnosis

A new study suggests that smartwatches may help diagnose Parkinson’s disease up to seven years ahead of any symptoms.

Cardiff University’s UK Dementia Research Institute team used artificial intelligence to analyse data from 103,712 smartwatch wearers.  By tracking their speed of movement over the course of a week between 2013 and 2016, they were able to predict which would go on to develop Parkinson’s.

It is hoped this could ultimately be used as a screening tool, but researchers say that more studies, comparing these findings with other data gathered around the world, are needed to check how accurate it will be.

The brains of people with Parkinson’s disease become damaged over the course of a number of years, but often by the time a diagnosis is made, there has already been too much irreversible damage to brain cells.

Study leader Dr Cynthia Sandor said that since around 30 per cent of the UK population wore smartwatches, they may offer a reliable and cheap way to identify early-stage Parkinson’s.

She said “We have shown here that a single week of data captured can predict events up to seven years in the future.

“With these results, we could develop a valuable screening tool to aid in the early detection of Parkinson’s.

“This has implications both for research, in improving recruitment into clinical trials, and in clinical practice, in allowing patients to access treatments at an earlier stage, in future, when such treatments become available.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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