Longitudinal qualitative assessment of meaningful symptoms and relevance of WATCH-PD digital measures for people with early Parkinson's.

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BackgroundLongitudinal qualitative data on what matters to people with Parkinson's disease are lacking and needed to guide patient-centered clinical care and development of outcome measures.ObjectiveTo evaluate change over time in symptoms, impacts, and relevance of digital measures to monitor disease progression in early Parkinson's.MethodsIn-depth, online symptom mapping interviews were conducted with 33 people with early Parkinson's at baseline and 1 year later to evaluate (A) symptoms, (B) impacts, and (C) relevance of digital measures to monitor personally relevant symptoms. Maps and transcripts were coded for frequencies, Likert scale rankings (0 = not present to 4 = most bothersome), and thematic findings. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to evaluate change over time.ResultsOther than walking and balance, most motor symptoms did not change significantly from baseline to 1 year later. Multiple significant changes were observed in non-motor areas (cognition, speech, sleep, mood, fatigue, pain; p  80%).ConclusionNon-motor and walking/balance symptoms changed sooner than other motor symptoms during the course of 1 year. Evaluation of coping and compensatory mechanisms may be essential to understanding symptom bothersomeness at a given point in time. Smartphone and smartwatch digital measures were relevant to personally meaningful symptoms of early PD.

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