Monitoring symptoms of Parkinson's disease to improve quality of life

Parkinson's disease affects 1% of adults over 60 years old, and due to an ageing population, its prevalence is increasing. The disease is characterised by movement symptoms and as there is currently no cure, living well with these symptoms is a priority. Movement symptoms vary during the course of a day and over the long-term, and being able to monitor these symptoms accurately and precisely has various benefits. These include informing current health status to help plan daily activities, and recording changes over time to enable optimization of treatment.

We have a prototype device which accurately and precisely measures key features of upper limb movement relevant to symptoms of Parkinson's disease, while performing a short task. This project aims to develop our current prototype into a simple and easy to use home monitoring tool for people with the disease.

People with Parkinson's disease, their family members, and other key stakeholders, such as clinicians and General Practitioners, will be involved in the project and product design processes. That will ensure we understand the needs of people the device will benefit, to create something meaningful to them. We will also seek their thoughts on how to re-design the prototype including its digital interface, with the aim of providing a user-friendly product and digital output that allows easy interpretation of individual results.

The co-designing of the device will occur in stages so all stakeholders can have ongoing input. The overall development of the device as a home monitoring tool will be based on the information we receive. At the end of the project, we will evaluate the final product and identify early adopters ready to trial the product for home monitoring.