Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of Parkinson’s patients utilizing the Fox Insight Wear smartphone application in an environment outside the clinic.

Background: A reliable quantitative tool based on consumer electronics utilizing wearable sensors for evaluating motor function in PD patients could be valuable both for routine care, informing the natural progression of PD and serving as an objective outcome measure for trials of novel therapies. The Michael J. Fox Foundation and Intel developed a smartphone app that collects 50Hz accelerometer data per second about users’ movements when paired with a smartwatch. Algorithms are applied to this objective data and insights about patient’s motor symptoms (e.g. activity level, tremor, effect of medication on walking and hand rotation) are displayed on the app in real-time.

Methods: We conducted a virtual study to determine whether it is feasible to implement a large scale wearable device program in PD patients. Parkinson’s patients with approved smartphone devices consented to the study online and received a Pebble Smartwatch and study instructions via post. Subjects were encouraged to wear the watch 24/7 and considered compliant if they streamed data at least five hours/day for 30 days. A call center was available for users who encountered technical difficulties.

Results: 417 PD patients completed the study. The mean age of subjects was 59 (SD 11.65), mean age of onset was 53.2 (SD 11.78), and mean years since diagnosis was 5.57 (SD 4.58). 76% (318/417) of subjects were compliant users and mean number of hours streamed was 1566. 8% (33/417) of users streamed < five hours/day for 20-30 days and 17% streamed < 10 days. In total, 523,745 watch hours were collected. The call center received 736 emails and 875 support phone call inquiries. The top three reasons for support inquiries included technology feature malfunction (70%), activation (17%) and login issues (8%).

Conclusions: Long-term, continuous use of a smartphone application among Parkinson’s patients is feasible. Offering smartphone application features that help users manage their symptoms and offering live support to troubleshoot technical issues contributed to high retention rates.

« Back to 2016 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/feasibility-of-implementing-a-long-term-mobile-device-program-in-pd-patients/