Parkinson’s Symptoms: Diagnosis in an App

Specialists at the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre have created a new way to detect Parkinson’s disease that is available to almost everyone. The symptoms of Parkinson’s are difficult to diagnose during its first stages: according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, at least 500,000 people in the US suffer from Parkinson’s, and about 50,000 new cases are reported annually. However, due to the difficulty of diagnosing Parkinson’s, this number may be more than reported. Luckily, this new application will make it easier for doctors to identify this disease.

How to Detect Parkinson’s Symptoms

This tool has the ability to analyze data to recognize the different patterns of development of Parkinson’s symptoms. This information is records a voice analysis and the user’s movements, which allows the app to diagnose Parkinson’s easily and efficiently.

The application uses a total of seven tests to detect the different Parkinson’s symptoms. Among them is a tremor exam that is tested by using the accelerometer in the smartphone, a walking test, a voice test, and a test to measure our reaction time.

This application was tested in a study with 17,000 subjects. In this trial, the tool recognized voice patterns and different movements among those who had Parkinson’s and those who did not, getting the right answer 99% of the time.

Although these results are very promising, specialists continue to work to improve the application. We still don’t know when it will be available, but it will certainly be helpful to get an early diagnosis of Parkinson’s.

Source: BBC