The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has made conditional recommendations on five wearable technologies that could help improve symptoms and quality of life for people with Parkinson’s disease:
- The Personal KinetiGraph Movement Recording System from Global Kinetics Corporation, a watch that measures movement and is intended to quantify movement disorder symptoms, including tremors, involuntary movement and slowness. It can also monitor activity associated with movement during sleep and has event markers for medication reminders and patient acknowledgement.
- STAT-ON from Sense4Care, a waist-worn inertia recorder that is configured by a doctor and measures involuntary movement, how people walk, falls, energy expenditure and posture. It also registers when medication has been taken, with up to ten alarms per day acting as prompts.
- Kinesia 360 from Great Lakes Neurotechnologies, a device to monitor physical motion and muscle activity to analyse how people move, including involuntary movement and tremors, and how their condition is progressing. Sensors are worn on the wrist and ankle, with a mobile phone app recording data. The app features electronic diaries to capture patient-reported outcomes and medication diaries.
- KinesiaU from Great Lakes Neurotechnologies, measuring tremors, slowness and involuntary movement using a smartwatch and smartphone app. Measurements can be taken through active tasks or through passive recording, and patients can view and share reports with healthcare professionals in real-time.
- PDMonitor from PD Neurotechnology, a system to measure activity, posture, slowness, gait disturbances, freezing of gait, wrist tremor, leg tremor, involuntary movement and on/off periods through devices worn on wrists, ankles and waist. The PDMonitor SmartBox charges the monitoring devices and collects, stores and processes data before uploading it to the PD Neurotechnology storage device.
NICE has requested that the NHS provide further evidence on the impact of resources associated with using technologies for people with Parkinson’s disease, including impact on symptoms, impact on health-related quality of life and how long this lasts for, how frequently devices are used, and under what circumstances. NHS data collection has started, with hundreds of patients already issued with the Personal KinetiGraph watch.
A consultation has begun on the recommendation, with NICE gathering thoughts and opinions until 18 October here.
Mark Chapman, Interim Director of Medical Technology at NICE, said: “Providing wearable technology to people with Parkinson’s disease could have a transformative effect on their care and lead to changes in their treatment taking place more quickly.”
He noted that the committee has “conditionally recommended” the use of the “five promising technologies” in order to eliminate evidence gaps an address uncertainties, adding: “We are committed to balancing the best care with value for money, delivering both for individuals and society as a whole, while at the same time driving innovation into the hands of health and care professionals to enable best practice.”
