Parkinson’s-focused tracking app helps to slash A&E visits and increase exercise

An app which tracks activity in Parkinson’s patients has been found to help reduce hospital A&E visits, increase exercise and improve medication adherence. 

Precision medicine firm Rune Labs’ StrivePD platform has been trialled for 10 months in 138 Parkinson’s patients at a clinic in California.

The patients had an age range of 39 to 88 years and a mean disease duration of six years.

All patients used an Apple Watch with Rune Labs’ app to record their behaviour for at least six hours of data per day for seven days per week.

Patients with moderate severity (Hoehn and Yahr stage 2 & 3), bilateral symptoms and responsiveness to dopaminergic agents were included in the research.

Data collected included exercise and activity, sleep, falls and mobility, hospitalisations and medication compliance. Over 211,000 hours of data were collected and analysed across 40,000 data points.

The research found highly variable patterns in the number of “red flags” patients reported as well as mobility, tremour and dyskinesia patterns across the patient population.

A 42 per cent reduction in emergency room visits was reported, with a corresponding 18 per cent reduction in specialists’ time.

Ro’ee Gilron, lead neuroscientist at Rune Labs, said: “By taking a tailored approach informed by ongoing patient-specific data, we have seen substantial improvements in symptom management.

“With a significant reduction in ER visits, increased exercise levels, and enhanced participation in physical therapy, this preliminary data highlights promising and impactful benefits for patients, caregivers, and clinicians.”

The research found that 90 per cent of patients increased their exercise, with 52 per cent of users exercising more than 150 min/week. Also, 80 per cent of patients better adhered to their medication schedules.

Dr. Suketu Khandhar, a neurology specialist at Kaiser Permanente’s Sacramento Medical Centre, where the study took place, said: “Due to StrivePD, I can approach each patient session with a much richer understanding of their disease progression. Patients also feel more confident in managing their symptoms, which has led to increased exercise and better health outcomes.”

Keith Narasaki, a Parkinson’s patient involved in the study, said: “A few months back I thought I needed more visits with my doctor, but now StrivePD has helped me see a lot more about how I’m doing day to day, so now I feel that my visit frequency is fine the way it is. StrivePD has provided important information in my treatment of how I can manage my PD symptoms. It has helped quantify how and when I can optimise taking advantage of my ON time and try to remain functional during my off periods.”

Brian Pepin, CEO of Rune Labs, summarised the research: “This is large-scale research in partnership with one of the biggest healthcare systems in the US. The results provide hope for more than a million patients struggling with Parkinson’s Disease that consumer technologies can help patients, caregivers, and clinicians to better understand the patterns and triggers of this complex disease.

“There’s never been a shortage of data around PD. The big obstacle has been collecting, analysing and making this data usable at scale, and this programme has achieved exactly that.”

This research is published against the backdrop of a shortage of movement disorder specialists in the US. With only 600 movement disorders specialists available to care for over one million patients, this shortage has led to gaps in patient care, including ineffective therapeutic interventions, increased hospitalisations, and a surge in emergency room visits due to falls.