Smartwatches may provide early Parkinson's diagnosis

Smartwatches might help diagnose Parkinson's disease up to seven years ahead of symptoms, a study suggests.

The UK Dementia Research Institute team at Cardiff University used artificial intelligence to analyse data from 103,712 smartwatch wearers.

By tracking their speed of movement over a single week, between 2013 and 2016, they were able to predict which would go on to develop Parkinson's.

It is hoped this could ultimately be used as a screening tool.

But more studies, comparing these findings with other data gathered around the world, are needed to check how accurate it will be, the researchers say, in the journal Nature Medicine.

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Source: BBC News, 3 July 2023