Recognizing Digital Biomarkers for Fatigue Assessment in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

We describe our ongoing work on the design and implementation of a system to continuously monitor different physiological parameters in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). We focus specifically on monitoring functions of the autonomous nervous system and activities of daily life using wearable and mobile sensors and to correlate these with important symptoms of MS, in particular, fatigue. Fatigue is a highly prevalent and debilitating symptom in MS patients. However, the underlying cause and pathogenetic mechanisms are poorly understood and consequently therapeutic interventions limited. As the first step in our research effort, we evaluate the feasibility of off-the-shelf devices to record several physiological parameters in MS patients continuously.