In cooperation with neuroscientists, the Brain Diseases Analysis Laboratory (BDALab) develops a new wearable-based system that will support the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In a pilot study, it has been observed that the system could differentiate healthy controls and people with a high risk of developing PD with 89% sensitivity and 87% specificity.

The Brain Diseases Analysis Laboratory (BDALab) in cooperation with the Applied Neuroscience research group of the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) and with the St. Anne’s University Hospital in Brno (FNUSA) is currently developing a system that will support neurologists in the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in its prodromal stage, i.e. in a period of the underlying neurodegenerative process with subtle or nonspecific symptoms. Such identification of the early stage of PD is crucial for the development of disease-modifying treatment since the neurodegeneration may be possibly stopped or treated before the pathological cascades start.

Utilising wearables (actigraphs) and machine-learning-driven post-processing, the system identifies a sleep disorder that is typically an early marker of PD. Participants wear the actigraph for 7 nights and then transfer data to a web-based system, which automatically analyse it and generate sleep measures and sleep quality reports that support the diagnosis.

The system has already passed a pilot testing, where it processed 100 recordings (nights) of people diagnosed with a high risk of developing PD (based on the MDS criteria, https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.27802), and 292 recordings of healthy controls. It was able to differentiate the group with 89% sensitivity and 87% specificity.

The development of the system was supported by European Regional Development Fund no. CE1581 (Interreg niCE-life – Development of an integrated concept for the deployment of innovative technologies and services allowing independent living of frail elderly) of the European Union (https://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/niCE-life.html). Some other research topics of BDALab could be found at https://bdalab.utko.fekt.vut.cz/ 

Discover more about the Brain Diseases Analysis Laboratory:

The Brain Diseases Analysis Laboratory (BDALab) is an international multidisciplinary research group focusing on the objective and quantitative analysis of brain diseases.