A BLINDED, CONTROLLED STUDY OF THE VALUE OF OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT IN TREATING PARKINSON’S DISEASE.

This study investigated whether the management of Parkinson’s disease (PD) was improved when clinical assessment and therapeutic decisions were aided by objective measurement using a wrist-worn device that measured levels of movement in people with Parkinson's (PwP). Medical conditions with effective therapies are usually managed with objective measurement and therapeutic "target ranges." PD has effective therapies, objective measurement has only recently become available. The PKG is a wrist-worn device which allows objective measurement of PD. 200 PwP were enrolled into 2 groups. There were 97 participants in the "PKG+" group (assessment of PD was made using standard clinical evaluation by a doctor who also had access to PKG information) and 103 in the "PKG-" group (assessment of PD made using only clinical evaluation). Changes were made to their therapies, or decisions made to refer on to more advanced treatments, was based on the doctor's assessment using the information they were supplied with. The study compared changes in the overall Parkinson's disease rating scale, called the MDS-UPDRS, in both groups. The results of the study showed that according to the MDS-UPDRS scores when the PKG was used, there were improvements in motor and non-motor signs of Parkinson’s disease.