New smartphone monitoring tool can help track Parkinson’s tremor
Added app feature aims to provide info on symptoms between clinic visits
Written by |
- A newly launched smartphone monitoring feature, designed for Apple Watch users, can continuously track Parkinson’s tremors and involuntary movements.
- The tool, from Kneu Health, aims to provide a more complete picture of a patient's symptoms between clinic visits.
- The U.K. developers say the feature can help doctors detect changes earlier and may improve disease management and patient care.
A new smartphone monitoring tool for people with Parkinson’s disease — designed for those who use an Apple Watch — can continuously measure tremor and involuntary movements, known as dyskinesia, which may help provide doctors with a more complete picture of a patient’s symptoms between clinic visits.
The new feature from Kneu Health, a U.K. company aiming to turn smartphones into clinical-grade monitors for Parkinson’s and other conditions, adds continuous tracking of tremor — the disease’s hallmark symptom — to motor and cognitive assessments already compiled on its phone platform. It then combines that information with passive activity data available to anyone with an Apple Watch.
The goal, according to a company press release, is to use Kneu’s smartphone tool to help clinicians detect changes earlier and make more personalized treatment decisions for people with Parkinson’s.
“The challenge isn’t collecting more data, it’s understanding what it means for each patient,” said Kinan Muhammed, MD, PhD, Kneu’s cofounder and chief medical officer. “By combining continuous passive monitoring from an Apple Watch with our existing active smartphone assessments, we’re helping patients and clinicians recognise changes earlier, make more personalised treatment decisions, and bridge the gap between life at home and care in the clinic.”
According to the company, the tool was adopted by 79% of eligible patients within two weeks of its introduction in the U.K. The platform is registered with the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and is being used across 10 National Health Service (NHS) organizations. It was also cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S.
“The extra information is helpful, it’s nice to have it all in one place,” said one patient at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust who is using the new tool. “The more data my clinician can get the better.”
New monitoring tool designed for Apple Watch users
A progressive disease, Parkinson’s is caused by the loss of dopaminergic neurons, which are the nerve cells that produce dopamine, a signaling molecule involved in motor control. Loss of dopamine signaling leads to the disease’s motor symptoms, such as tremor, stiffness, and slowed movement, as well as nonmotor symptoms, including cognitive and mood changes. Symptoms can fluctuate throughout the day, making it difficult for a brief clinic visit to capture how a person is doing in everyday life.
Kneu’s smartphone platform was developed to address this gap by allowing people to complete short, structured assessments at home. The app — available on any smartphone — uses sensors and guided tests to measure changes in movement, voice, balance, gait, reaction time, and cognition. The resulting data are analyzed using machine-learning algorithms and presented to healthcare professionals through a clinical dashboard.
Parkinson’s doesn’t stop between appointments, and neither should measurement. … By capturing passive data from watches alongside active assessments, clinical teams can get a clearer picture of how someone is doing in everyday life.
The new feature adds a passive component that continuously tracks tremor and dyskinesia in everyday life. Dyskinesia refers to involuntary movements that can develop as a side effect of some Parkinson’s medications, particularly with long-term levodopa treatment. According to Kneu, this is the first time dyskinesia has been incorporated into its monitoring platform.
“Parkinson’s doesn’t stop between appointments, and neither should measurement,” said Caroline Cake, Kneu’s cofounder and CEO. “By capturing passive data from watches alongside active assessments, clinical teams can get a clearer picture of how someone is doing in everyday life.”
According to Cake, “this can help teams spot changes earlier, understand their patients at scale, and focus their time where it’s needed most.”
Previous data from Kneu’s platform have suggested that remote monitoring can influence clinical care. In an NHS partnership, 105 people with Parkinson’s completed more than 49,000 digital assessments during the first six months. About half experienced a medication dose change based on the information collected. Further, 90% of clinicians using the dashboard said it significantly improved patient care.
Kneu also reported that its platform can detect changes in symptoms before they become apparent in routine care. The smartphone-based measures were sensitive to daily symptom fluctuations and could predict clinical outcomes such as risk of falls, disease progression, and cognitive decline.
With its new feature, “patients and clinical teams can build a clear picture of disease progression between appointments with the aim of improving care,” the company stated.
Ann Ruggiero
when willingly this be available on apple watches?