If connected watches -especially the Apple Watch- are regularly talked about in our pages for their heroic prowess, they are also used in a more experimental way, to help advance medicine. For recent example, their contribution to detect Parkinson's disease several years in advance, to prepare mentally, but also to start treatments before the disease declares itself.
One week of observation makes it possible to diagnose the future appearance of Parkinson's
As a reminder, Parkinson's is a disease that progressively damages the brain and in particular causes involuntary tremors. Once diagnosed, it's too late to cure it. It particularly touched personalities like Muhammad Ali or Michael J. Fox. Using various artificial intelligence algorithms, researchers at Cardiff University in the UK analyzed data from more than 100,000 smartwatch wearers (model not specified). By monitoring the coordination and speed of each individual's movements over the space of a week (between 2013 and 2016), they were able to determine who was at risk of developing the disease.
Smartwatch for early diagnosis, up to 7 years before disease emergence
Apparently, a single week of data can predict events up to seven years before they occur. With this information, researchers will be able to develop a monitoring tool that will help detect Parkinson's disease before it manifests itself. However, the doctors point out that there is still work to be done, in particular by comparing their research with other data collected around the world. Source: BBC
