Validating wearable sensors as an assessment tool for Parkinson's disease

The International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Modified Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) is the gold standard evaluation of Parkinson's Disease (PD), but there is inter-rater variability. Wearable biosensors are a novel tool to quantify neurodegenerative symptoms in PD. This project aimed to use XSens sensors to assess PD patients during motor tasks and identify differences compared to controls.

Participants with PD (n = 6) exhibiting freezing of gait (FOG) were compared to controls meeting inclusion criteria (n = 5). Participants donned inertial motion capture sensors and underwent motor assessments. Data was analyzed using MATLAB and Prism.

Using XSens, we found stride length in PD patients is reduced compared to controls (0.58 m vs. 0.97 m, p = 0.0028). Wrist rotational area is reduced in PD patients compared to controls (445mm² vs. 2731 mm², p < 0.01). When following the beat of a metronome, PD patients exhibited an increased standard deviation in beats per minute compared to controls (0.072 vs. 0.040, p = 0.024).

We identified novel clinical tests of wrist rigidity and rhythmicity, which identified significant differences between groups. This exploratory study indicates accelerometry is a promising biomarker for remote monitoring and screening of PD, which needs to be substantiated with large-scale clinical studies.