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Review
. 2023 May 31;23(11):5243.
doi: 10.3390/s23115243.

Machine Learning Techniques for Developing Remotely Monitored Central Nervous System Biomarkers Using Wearable Sensors: A Narrative Literature Review

Ahnjili ZhuParris  1   2   3 , Annika A de Goede  1 , Iris E Yocarini  2 , Wessel Kraaij  2   4 , Geert Jan Groeneveld  1   2 , Robert Jan Doll  1
Affiliations
Review

Machine Learning Techniques for Developing Remotely Monitored Central Nervous System Biomarkers Using Wearable Sensors: A Narrative Literature Review

Ahnjili ZhuParris et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Central nervous system (CNS) disorders benefit from ongoing monitoring to assess disease progression and treatment efficacy. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies offer a means for the remote and continuous symptom monitoring of patients. Machine Learning (ML) techniques can process and engineer mHealth data into a precise and multidimensional biomarker of disease activity.

Objective: This narrative literature review aims to provide an overview of the current landscape of biomarker development using mHealth technologies and ML. Additionally, it proposes recommendations to ensure the accuracy, reliability, and interpretability of these biomarkers.

Methods: This review extracted relevant publications from databases such as PubMed, IEEE, and CTTI. The ML methods employed across the selected publications were then extracted, aggregated, and reviewed.

Results: This review synthesized and presented the diverse approaches of 66 publications that address creating mHealth-based biomarkers using ML. The reviewed publications provide a foundation for effective biomarker development and offer recommendations for creating representative, reproducible, and interpretable biomarkers for future clinical trials.

Conclusion: mHealth-based and ML-derived biomarkers have great potential for the remote monitoring of CNS disorders. However, further research and standardization of study designs are needed to advance this field. With continued innovation, mHealth-based biomarkers hold promise for improving the monitoring of CNS disorders.

Keywords: biomarker; central nervous system; clinical trials; mHealth; machine learning; remote monitoring; smartphones; wearables.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram illustrating the paper selection process for this review.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Clinical populations and the use of healthy controls in the selected studies.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Sample sizes of clinical populations included in selected studies, with x-axis (sample size) presented on a logarithmic scale.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Machine learning algorithms and their respective objectives in the selected studies.
Figure 5
Figure 5
General recommendations for building an effective and reproducible ML pipeline.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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