Patient Experience and Feasibility of a Remote Monitoring System in Parkinson's Disease

Remote monitoring systems have the potential to measure symptoms and treatment effects in people with Parkinson's disease (PwP) in the home environment. However, information about user experience and long-term compliance of such systems in a large group of PwP with relatively severe PD symptoms is lacking.

The aim was to gain insight into user experience and long-term compliance of a smartwatch (to be worn 24/7) and an online dashboard to report falls and receive feedback of data.

We analyzed the data of the "Bringing Parkinson Care Back Home" study, a 1-year observational cohort study in 200 PwP with a fall history. User experience, compliance, and reasons for noncompliance were described. Multiple Cox regression models were used to identify determinants of 1-year compliance.

We included 200 PwP (mean age: 69 years, 37% women), of whom 116 (58%) completed the 1-year study. The main reasons for dropping out of the study were technical problems (61 of 118 reasons). Median wear time of the smartwatch was 17.5 h/day. The online dashboard was used by 77% of participants to report falls. Smartphone possession, shorter disease duration, more severe motor symptoms, and less-severe freezing and balance problems, but not age and gender, were associated with a higher likelihood of 1-year compliance.

The 1-year compliance with this specific smartwatch was moderate, and the user experience was generally good, except battery life and data transfer. Future studies can build on these findings by incorporating a smartwatch that is less prone to technical issues.