PD Assist: Digital assistance system for the treatment, care and documentation of patients with Parkinson's disease.

PD Assist: Digital assistance system for the treatment, care and documentation of patients with Parkinson's disease.
Idiopathic Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that typically results in slowing of movements (bradykinesia), increased muscle stiffness (rigor), and tremors of the extremities (tremor). These three cardinal symptoms vary greatly from individual to individual. Their occurrence is monitored in previous studies, for example, via smartphones and wearables in controlled laboratory environments.

The point-by-point diagnosis of the patient does not result in a consistent data image. It is often difficult for physicians to assess changes in mobility. It is also difficult to capture potential correlations between motor fluctuations and medication. The recorded data is sparse and the course of the disease is therefore not continuously documented.

The aim of the project is to develop a digital assistance system to support long-term documentation and treatment planning for people with Parkinson's disease. The project is based on an app to be developed that automates the recording of movement patterns of patients and documents medication intake. As a result, this impairs the disease-related quality of life of the patients, since lengthy and highly frequented presentations, long waiting times and the keeping of diaries burden the patients. In addition, the (partially) automated application supports medical documentation processes in terms of effective and quality-assured documentation, thus relieving medical staff and patients.