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The Case for Symptom-Specific Neurological Digital Biomarkers

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Wireless Mobile Communication and Healthcare (MobiHealth 2021)

Abstract

Digital biomarkers provide novel and objective assessment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD). This paper demonstrates that objective digital biomarkers, obtained from mobile-based functional assessments, can be used for symptom-specific insights on neurological deficiencies. These digital biomarkers were found to be sensitive to change in relation to structured physical interventions. In this pilot study, 54 participants (n = 36 PD; n = 18 control) completed 13 neurocognitive functional tasks with 115 digital biomarkers being identified and compared between groups for objective assessment, evaluation, and monitoring of disease progression. 36 (31.30%) of these biomarkers were significant (\(p < 0.10\)) between groups. Of the 36 significant biomarkers, 10 were motor, 6 were memory, 1 was speech, 6 were executive function, and 13 were multi-functional. 8 biomarkers were significant (\(p < 0.10\)) between groups regardless of intervention, which may indicate strong biomarkers to assess PD. Further, 15 (13.04%) digital biomarkers showed significance (\(p < 0.10\)) in relation to structured physical intervention. Overall, mobile-based digital biomarkers provide promising measures and sensitivity to functional change that can be used in assessment and monitoring of Parkinson’s Disease. Further integration of mobile device capabilities can enhance the understanding of how neurodegenerative diseases present and aid clinicians in the diagnosis and monitoring of conditions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    John Michael Templeton & Sandra Schneider

  2. Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Christian Poellabauer

Authors
  1. John Michael Templeton
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  2. Christian Poellabauer
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  3. Sandra Schneider
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Michael Templeton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China

    Xinbo Gao

  2. The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Abbas Jamalipour

  3. Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China

    Lei Guo

A Appendix

A Appendix

Table 5. List of collected digital biomarkers from single functional tasks (\(n = 54; PD = 36; Control = 18\)). (* = Sig. BvC) (\(\dagger \) = Sig. AvC) (\(\ddagger \) = Sig. BvA); (\(p<0.05\))
Full size table
Table 6. List of collected digital biomarkers from multi-functional tasks (\(n = 54; PD = 36; Control = 18\)). (* = Sig. BvC) (\(\dagger \) = Sig. AvC) (\(\ddagger \) = Sig. BvA); (\(p<0.05\))
Full size table
Table 7. Expanded list of collected digital biomarkers from single functional tasks (\(n = 20; PD = 12; Control = 8\)). (* = Sig. BvC) (\(\dagger \) = Sig. AvC) (\(\ddagger \) = Sig. BvA); (\(p<0.05\))
Full size table
Table 8. Expanded list of collected digital biomarkers from multi-functional tasks (\(n = 20; PD = 12; Control = 8\)). (* = Sig. BvC) (\(\dagger \) = Sig. AvC) (\(\ddagger \) = Sig. BvA); (\(p<0.05\))
Full size table
Table 9. Expanded list of collected digital biomarkers from multi-functional tasks continued (\(n = 20; PD = 12; Control = 8\)). (* = Sig. BvC)(\(\dagger \) = Sig. AvC) (\(\ddagger \) = Sig. BvA); (\(p<0.05\))
Full size table

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Templeton, J.M., Poellabauer, C., Schneider, S. (2022). The Case for Symptom-Specific Neurological Digital Biomarkers. In: Gao, X., Jamalipour, A., Guo, L. (eds) Wireless Mobile Communication and Healthcare. MobiHealth 2021. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 440. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06368-8_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06368-8_16

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-06368-8

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