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Interaction with touchscreen smartphones in patients with essential tremor and healthy individuals
R López-Blanco1, J Benito-León2, S Llamas-Velasco3
1Instituto de Investigación (i+12), Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Neurología, Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Introduction:
Smartphone use in biomedical research is becoming more prevalent in different clinical settings. We performed a pilot study to obtain information on smartphone use by patients with essential tremor (ET) and healthy controls, with a view to determining whether performance of touchscreen tasks is different between these groups and describing touchscreen interaction factors.
Method:
A total of 31 patients with ET and 40 sex- and age-matched healthy controls completed a descriptive questionnaire about the use of smartphones. Participants subsequently interacted with an under-development Android application, and performed 4 tests evaluating typical touchscreen interaction gestures; each test was performed 5 times.
Result:
The type of smartphone use and touchscreen interaction were not significantly different between patients and controls. Age and frequency of smartphone use are key factors in touchscreen interaction.
Conclusion:
Our results support the use of smartphone touchscreens for research into ET, although further studies are required.
