Added value of a wrist-worn device for assessing tremor in Parkinson’s disease: reliability and validity of tremor evaluation at home

Abstract

Clinical assessment and self-report of tremor in Parkinson’s disease (PD) have several limitations, including recall bias and lack of sensitivity. Wearable-based technology offers an opportunity to address these shortcomings. We investigated the test–retest reliability of wearable tremor assessment and compared the different approaches of assessing tremor. We analyzed data from 219 participants of the ProPark study. In 27% of people with PD, self-report and clinical observation disagreed about the presence of tremor. Wearable-based tremor assessment had excellent test–retest reliability after 3 days of data recording (ICC(2,3) lower bound of 95%CI > 0.90 for all tremor metrics). Wearable-derived tremor amplitude, duration, and volume were significantly associated with clinical assessment of tremor (all p < 0.001), and tremor volume was consistent with patient self-report of tremor presence when clinical observation failed to detect tremor (p = 0.040). In conclusion, wearable sensors can provide accurate and relevant information about the presence and severity of tremor in PD.