Clinical Perspectives on Using Remote Measurement Technology in Assessing Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Digital Health
• Health Technology Assessment

Background:

• Chronic central nervous system conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, and depression present challenges for traditional assessment methods.
• Remote measurement technology (RMT) offers potential benefits for monitoring and managing these conditions.
• Thirteen RMT use cases were previously developed across epilepsy, MS, and depression.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the clinical utility and implementation challenges of 13 RMT use cases.
• To prioritize RMT applications through expert consensus.

Main Methods:

• A Delphi exercise involving an expert panel of European clinicians external to the project.
• Two survey rounds and a follow-up interview round were conducted.
• Data analysis focused on consensus and stability between survey rounds, with qualitative exploration of implementation issues.

Main Results:

• High stability was observed for use case validation, but lower consensus on broader implementation issues.
• All 5 epilepsy RMT use cases were deemed beneficial, though risk scoring was less favored.
• All 5 depression RMT use cases showed agreement on benefits, with specific use cases like trend detection and treatment review receiving strong consensus.
• Limited consensus was found for MS RMT use cases, potentially due to a high dropout rate of MS clinicians.

Conclusions:

• Findings inform the prioritization of RMT use cases for future development, including clinical trials and commercialization.
• Key priorities include RMT for accurate symptom/treatment response tracking and data for patient triage and alerts.
• Further research should focus on cost-effectiveness and clinical validation of prioritized RMT applications.