Smartwatches Could Help Identify Parkinson's Disease Symptoms Early, Claims Study

Smartwatches could identify symptoms of Parkinson's disease seven years before they appear, a new study has claimed. Carried out by UK Dementia Research Institute team at Cardiff University, the study analysed data from more than 103,000 people who wore a smartwatch. According to the BBC, the researchers tracked the participants' speed of movement over a single week, between 2013 and 2016. This helped them determine who would go on to develop Parkinson's, the outlet further said quoting from the research.

Slow movement is a typical symptom of the condition, along with shaking and stiffness.

The team hopes that their study could ultimately be used as a screening tool. They, however, cautioned that more studies are needed to check how accurate this result will be.

The study has been published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Study leader Dr Cynthia Sandor told Sky News that the findings could "allow patients to access treatments at an earlier stage".

The brains of most patients of Parkinson's disease are already damaged till the time of diagnosis.

"While much more work will need to be done before this is put into clinical practice, our discovery marks a significant leap forward in the early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, and suggests that devices such as activity trackers and smartwatches could play a key role in clinical monitoring," Dr Sandor said.

Dr Kathryn Peall, who worked on the study, told the BBC, "We compared our model across a number of different disorders, including other types of neurodegenerative disorders, individuals with osteoarthritis, and other movement disorders, amongst others, an advantage of being able to work with a dataset such as the UK Biobank."

The researchers further said that artificial intelligence (AI) can be integrated to identify people who would develop Parkinson's disease later in life - and predict the timing.