Category: Technology
Objective: To determine the responsiveness to the effects of medication of home based unsupervised wearable sensor assessed tests for the evaluation of bradykinesia and tremor in Parkinson’s disease.
Background: Home based wearable assessments may help to better characterize medication responsiveness by allowing more frequent objective assessments. Building upon initial validation by Burq et al. 2023 over an extensive timeframe, we aim to show its appliance when performed daily over a shorter one-week interval.
Method: Data were analyzed from participants in the Profiling Parkinson’s disease (ProPark) multicenter cohort study in the Netherlands. Self-reported responsiveness was obtained through the Q10 questionnaire for the items ‘tremor’ and ‘slowness of movement’ and only participants with self-reported responsiveness were analyzed for tremor and bradykinesia, respectively. Participants were instructed to perform daily tests (based on the MDS-UPDRS III) for the evaluation of bradykinesia (i.e., finger and heel tapping) and postural tremor, before and one hour after the first intake of medication of the day. Tri-axial accelerometer and gyroscope sensors on the wrist and lower back (lumbar vertebra 5) were used to assess bradykinesia (mean and decrement in tapping frequency and intensity) and postural tremor (amplitude). A linear mixed effects model with the wearable sensor derived performance as outcome was used to estimate the ability of the tests to assess medication responsiveness.
Results: Preliminary results (N = 6 and N = 8 for tremor and bradykinesia respectively) have been obtained. Finger tapping frequency (β = 0.24 taps/s, p<0.001) and both finger (β = 0.69m/s2, p<0.001) and heel tapping intensity (β = 1.37 m/s2, p<0.001) increase after medication intake but no effect of medication on decrement of tapping frequency or intensity was found. No effect of medication was found on Postural tremor amplitude.
Conclusion: It may be possible to objectively quantify medication responsiveness in PD patients at home over a one-week interval. More data will be collected and presented during the MDS world congress.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
R. Weijer, A. Szanto, V. Exadaktylos, J. van Hilten, D. Hepp. Medication Effects on Bradykinesia and Tremor in Parkinson’s Disease, Measured by Wearable Sensors [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2024; 39 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/medication-effects-on-bradykinesia-and-tremor-in-parkinsons-disease-measured-by-wearable-sensors/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2024 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/medication-effects-on-bradykinesia-and-tremor-in-parkinsons-disease-measured-by-wearable-sensors/