Passive Monitoring at Home: A Pilot Study in Parkinson Disease

We conducted a pilot study using a passive radio-wave-based home monitor in individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) with a focus on gait, home activity, and time in bed. We enrolled 7 ambulatory individuals to have the device installed in the bedroom of their homes over 8 weeks and performed standard PD assessments at baseline. We evaluated the ability of the device to objectively measure gait and time in bed and to generate novel visualizations of home activity. We captured 353 days of monitoring. Mean gait speed (0.39–0.78 m/s), time in bed per day (4.4–12.1 h), and number (1.4–5.9) and duration (15.0–49.8 min) of nightly awakenings varied substantially across and within individuals. Derived gait speed correlated well with the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale total (r = –0.88, p = 0.009) and motor sub-score (r = –0.95, p = 0.001). Six of the seven participants agreed that their activity was typical and indicated a willingness to continue monitoring. This technology provided promising new insights into the home activities of those with PD and may be broadly applicable to other chronic conditions.