UPDATE DECEMBER 2020.
Fight Parkinson’s has welcomed publication of a study adding to the body of evidence showing the advantages of using a wearable, continuous objective measurement system to monitor and manage motor symptoms affecting people with Parkinson’s.
The results were published in November in Nature Partners Journal – Parkinson’s Disease, an international journal devoted to publishing important scientific advances in Parkinson’s disease research.
The controlled clinical trial of objective measurement in Parkinson’s disease compared outcomes of routine clinical management to clinical management aided by the wearable Personal KinetiGraph® (PKG®) in 200 participants.
Professor Malcolm Horne, of The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and inventor of the PKG®, led the research project, which was funded by Fight Parkinson’s, Michael J Fox Foundation, Shake it Up Australia and an in-kind grant from Global Kinetics Corporation, which produces the PKG®.
The technology collects data from a logger, worn like a watch, providing continuous quantitative data on movement disorder symptoms including tremor, bradykinesia (slow movement) and dyskinesia (abnormal or impaired movement) in a non-clinical setting.
This allows doctors to objectively monitor motor symptoms to assess whether a person with Parkinson’s has appropriate treatment and to judge the effect of changes to therapy at subsequent visits.
The study reported ‘statistically significant improvements’ in the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale – a common measurement of PD outcomes – compared to standard of care management.
Prof. Horne said the study was an important addition to the body of evidence showing that there were improved outcomes when the management of symptoms affecting people with Parkinson’s was aided by a continuous objective measurement system.
The Treat to Target clinical trial was funded in 2018. Fight Parkinson’s provided $127,000 towards this landmark research project in 2017-18 and promoted the clinical trial to the Victorian Parkinson’s community. At the end of December 2018, 55 Victorians had taken part.
