Parkinson’s Tremor Data Analysis Device

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is classified as a chronic movement disorder by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (1). It’s progression status is characterized through the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale which is an ordinal scale. With recent advances in wireless sensor networks and embedded computing technologies monitoring devices have become feasible and have the capacity to provide continuous monitoring and analysis. This work presents the results of a technical pilot study using accelerometer and gyroscope (IMU) to identify and quantify the intensity of the tremor gathering and analyzing data. A wearable device for patient’s wrist was developed to estimate the severity of tremor movements on patients. Results derived from the prototype, the IMU specifically, were analyzed to assess the accuracy of the device to prove its utility for the estimation of clinical scores of the duration and frequency of the tremor. The proposed device can potentially track the Parkinson’s tremor status throughout real time which includes a subject database to quantify the progression of PD. Drug therapy dosage could be optimized with quantified feedback from the proposed device. Such measures have the potential to be used as parameters in clinical trials and close loop control micro dosing.