Accelerometer data collected with a minimum set of wearable sensors from subjects with Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with motor and non-motor symptoms. Current treatments primarily focus on managing motor symptom severity such as tremor, bradykinesia, and rigidity. However, as the disease progresses, treatment side-effects can emerge such as on/off periods and dyskinesia. The objective of the Levodopa Response Study was to identify whether wearable sensor data can be used to objectively quantify symptom severity in individuals with PD exhibiting motor fluctuations. Thirty-one subjects with PD were recruited from 2 sites to participate in a 4-day study. Data was collected using 2 wrist-worn accelerometers and a waist-worn smartphone. During Days 1 and 4, a portion of the data was collected in the laboratory while subjects performed a battery of motor tasks as clinicians rated symptom severity. The remaining of the recordings were performed in the home and community settings. To our knowledge, this is the first dataset collected using wearable accelerometers with specific focus on individuals with PD experiencing motor fluctuations that is made available via an open data repository.

Fig. 1

Illustration of the study protocol. Data collection started in the laboratory on Day 1 where a battery of motor tasks was performed multiple times by subjects and questionnaires were filled out. Data collection continued on Days 2 and 3 in the home setting and was completed in the laboratory on Day 4.

Fig. 2

Illustration of the sensor placement and cloud platform. Study volunteers donned a GeneActiv device on their most affected wrist, a Pebble smartwatch on their least affected wrist and a smartphone at the waist. Real-time data from the sensors embedded in the Pebble smartwatch and the smartphone were transmitted to a cloud platform through a custom-designed smartphone application. The sensor data could be visualized in real time by research staff. After completion of the protocol, the GeneActiv data was manually uploaded to the cloud platform. The combined data could then be accessed by researchers to perform analyses to be shared with the research team.

Fig. 3

Illustration of subject onboarding. Note that 48 screened subjects did not meet the study inclusion criteria, 10 subjects who met the study inclusion criteria did not consent due to time commitment or having to come to the laboratory in a practically-defined off state, and all subjects that provided consent completed the protocol. However, data from 3 subjects were excluded from the dataset because of protocol change (n = 2) and a considerable amount of missing data (n = 1).

Fig. 4

Smartphone application graphical user interface. Subjects were able to input information using the interface and were able to visualize the data from the Pebble watch and the phone.

Fig. 5

Distribution of the clinical scores for (a) tremor, (b) dyskinesia, and (c) bradykinesia related to the motor tasks performed during the laboratory visits.