Development, debugging, and assessment of parkinsoncheck attributes through visualisation

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease is estimated to affect between four and six million people over the age of 50 worldwide, and that number is expected to double by the year 2030. The disease often presents itself with a Parkinsonian tremor (PT) and other movement disorders and these symptoms can be similar to those of another disease, the essential tremor (ET)–the most prevalent movement disorder. Spirography is a method involving drawing, usually of spirals, which are then analysed for various distinguishing features to detect signs of various tremors. Spiral drawing as assessment of tremor is recommended by the Movement Disorder Society. This chapter describes the inner making of ParkinsonCheck, a mobile application for self-checking for signs of PT and ET. ParkinsonCheck uses digitalised spirography on smartphones and tablets to detect the signs. The chapter focuses primarily on spirography and the knowledge extraction, formulation, debugging, and assessment for ParkinsonCheck through the use of visualisation.