Smartwatches could help identify symptoms of Parkinson's disease seven years before they appear, a study has found
Researchers analysed data from more than 103,000 people who wore a medical-grade wearable for seven days, measuring their speed of movement continuously.Dr Kathryn Peall, of Cardiff University's Mental Health Innovation Institute, said her team investigated whether movement speed data from a smartwatch could therefore act as a potential early warning sign of developing the disease.
The study, which ran from 2013 to 2016, compared data from people who already had the condition with those who were diagnosed up to seven years after the smartwatch data was collected. Researchers could distinguish between those who went on to develop Parkinson's and those who were healthy. Not only that, but they also showed AI could then be used to identify people in the general population who would develop the condition later in life - and predict the timing.