Using a smartwatch and smartphone to assess early Parkinson’s disease in the WATCH-PD study
Jamie Adams, Tairmae Kangarloo, Brian Tracey, Patricio O’Donnell, Dmitri Volfson, Robert D. Latzman, Neta Zach, Robert Alexander, Peter R. Bergethon, Joshua D. Cosman, David G. Anderson, Allen Best, Joan Severson, Melissa Kostrzebski, Peggy Auinger, Peter Wilmot, Yvonne Pohlson, Emma Waddell, Stella Jensen-Roberts, Yishu Gong, Krishna Praneeth Kilambi, Teresa Ruiz Herrero, E. Ray Dorsey, the Parkinson Study Group Watch-PD Study Investigators and Collaborators, Jamie Adams, Christopher G. Tarolli, Emma Waddell, Stella Jensen-Roberts, Julia Soto, Penelope Hogarth, Mastura Wahedi, Katrina Wakeman, Alberto J. Espay, Julia Brown, Christina Wurzelbacher, Steven A. Gunzler, Elisar Khawam, Camilla Kilbane, Meredith Spindler, Megan Engeland, Arjun Tarakad, Matthew J. Barrett, Leslie Cloud, Virginia Norris, Zoltán Mari, Kara J. Wyant, Kelvin L. Chou, Angela Stovall, Cynthia Poon, Tanya Simuni, Kyle Tingling, Nijee Luthra, Caroline Tanner, Eda Yılmaz, D. B. Romero, Karen Thomas, Leslie Matson, Lisa C. Richardson, Michelle Fullard, Jeanne Feuerstein, Erika Shelton, David Shprecher, Michael Callan, Andrew Feigin, Caitlin Romano, Martina Romain, Michelle Shum, Erica Botting, Leigh Harrell, Claudia Rocha, Ritesh Ramdhani, Joshua Gardner, Ginger Parker, Victoria Ross, Steve J. Stephen, Katherine Fisher, Jeremy R. Edgerton, Jesse M. Cedarbaum, Robert Rubens, Jaya Padmanabhan, Diane Stephenson, Brian Severson, Michael Merickel, Daniel Jackson Amato, Thomas L. Carroll
Abstract
Digital health technologies can provide continuous monitoring and objective, real-world measures of Parkinson's disease (PD), but have primarily been evaluated in small, single-site studies. In this 12-month, multicenter observational study, we evaluated whether a smartwatch and smartphone application could measure features of early PD. 82 individuals with early, untreated PD and 50 age-matched controls wore research-grade sensors, a smartwatch, and a smartphone while performing standardized assessments in the clinic. At home, participants wore the smartwatch for seven days after each clinic visit and completed motor, speech and cognitive tasks on the smartphone every other week. Features derived from the devices, particularly arm swing, the proportion of time with tremor, and finger tapping, differed significantly between individuals with early PD and age-matched controls and had variable correlation with traditional assessments. Longitudinal assessments will inform the value of these digital measures for use in future clinical trials.