Smart watch for Parkinson’s : theguardian... - Cure Parkinson's
Smart watch for Parkinson’s
"Thousands of people with Parkinson’s disease will be given smartwatches by NHS England so they can be treated effectively from home."
Truly, a good thing - for pwp in the UK.
I have mixed feelings about it, as the NHS is on its knees due to chronic underfunding. It would be fantastic as an adjunct to regular consultations but my cynical side sees it being used to replace contact with healthcare professionals. On the plus side I like to see innovation in technology, so praise goes to the team that developed it.
The theory is great but I share your concerns. The benefit will wholly depend upon the data analysis, and I wonder if a busy neurologist will have time to review each patient thoroughly. The tech needs our support though
Hi there,“replace contact with healthcare professionals” What contact? One or two hours a year split into 15 minute sessions? With a healthcare professional who may know less than you about PD? I know where my inclination leads on this proposal: if i am offered a smartwatch i shall accept it. At least this way there will be some data with which to use for research.
Marc, I see my neurologist for 10 minutes a year. Surely seeing a human is a good thing?
Indeed. I agree.
I read the article as providing data to doctors during the intervening periods, i.e., giving them more, not less - in place of, opportunities to deal with patients.
The NHS is massively underfunded and they are looking to cut corners as much as possible.
I agree.
It was on the BBC news yesterday and has been trialled in Cornwall U.K. by many PD patients. The person interviewed found it very useful to help them manage PD. We shall have to see! We await the delivery of one for my husband. First time anything like this has happened on a national scale!
I agree nurses and consultants have enough work , this will add to their workload will they have time to monitor
The headlines in the Guardian refer to it as “life changing”. What rubbish! It might be life changing for the health professionals. They would just have to check the data and tweak the meds without ever having to see the patient. What happened to listening to a patient’s concerns and caring about which symptoms bother the PwP and which they are quite happy to live with. We’ve just lived through two years of lockdown when, for many of us, consultations stopped being face to face and became telephone calls. This watch could remove the need to ever have a face to face consultation again.I saw the item on tv and thought what a lot of hype about a gizmo to collect data. With such a fanfare I thought at least a cure was going to be discussed! Life changing? I don’t think so, well not for the patient!
My partner, John and I were the ones interviewed by the BBC. We were involved in planning as Experts with Experience from its inception.
This video will offer a response to many concerns raise in this string of comments. Here. John would rather have his condition monitored remotely every 6 months than for 10 minutes once a year or even less frequently.
The second video is a frank discussion about the future of digitally supported services with our consultant, Dr Camille Carroll who drove the development and evaluation.
I’ve been involved as a volunteer PwP in clinical trials of various movement sensors. My own view is that it’s aspirational at best to provide the full digital picture of bradykinesia, gait, dystonia, dyskinesias sleep disturbances etc and concluded that it’s still very much work in progress.
I would say however in it’s favour that it’s well recognised that descriptions in clinic are subjective with little time available for a full UPDRS assessment. ( Most neurologist hate the UPDRS anyway!) The use of digital bio markers seems to be very on trend research tool at the moment, with clinicians hopeful of a fuller insight into their patient’s mobility issues.
There’s also the very real issue that Parkinson’s disease is so much more than a movement disorder!
I would imagine it very hard to capture most of the Non motor symptoms via a PKG.! Orthostatic hypotension ? Depression, anxiety, apathy, saliva issues, bladder dysfunction issues?
I really hope any device issued by our NHS is used as an adjunct to therapy and consultations, and doesn’t replace them.
When we moved from the Bay Area to Texas, all of a sudden hubby finally got a neuro who would spend time with him! Monthly appointments! It’s making so much difference. There’s no way seeing more advanced patients once a year could be a good thing.
Hi there,I am certain those old-timers on this site who can remember 18yrs of my posts will be under no illusions about the support of health professionals. I have been fortunate to be treated by a geriatrition with an interest in PD. Geriatrics puts the patient at the centre of the support resulting in more time for farce-to-face interaction.
I see two important uses of this approach:
1. Clinical trials rely on data, more of it the better. High frequency testing, perhaps every day for a year, rather than every 3 months, say, is much more accurate.
2. Use the data in real time to measure levodopa levels, say, and automatically pump in an adjusted dose of levodopa. (Something similar has been done in diabetes.)
Finally, it is worth noting a difference with modern developments: there is a move away from biomarkers to using proxy measures and AI. What do I mean by this? You could try to find a measurable entity which is highly correlated with PD. (As far as I'm aware no highly accurate biomarkers for PD have been found.) Or, in contrast, use several proxies for PD, such as walking speed, tremor, stiffness etc., each less powerful than a true biomarker, and let the AI discover the optimal predictor.
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