By Yao Siyan
BEIJING, Aug.14 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. chip maker Intel plans to use wearable gadgets such as smart watches to monitor patients with Parkinson's disease and collect data to improve research and treatment.
Intel said on Wednesday it would work with the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), established by the actor and Parkinson's sufferer in 2000, to battle Parkinson's disease with new big data and wearable technologies, hopefully to gain insights into the progression of the disease.
An estimated five million people globally have been diagnosed with Parkinson's, the second most common neurodegenerative brain disease after Alzheimer's disease. Clinical trials of Parkinson's disease have been far too "subjective" in the past, according to Sohini Chowdhury, a senior vice president for research partnerships at the foundation. For instance, a patient might inform her doctor that she felt a tremor for several minutes, when it actually lasted a matter of seconds.
"As more of these devices hit the market, we can collect objective measurements and determine the efficacy of new therapeutics," said Sohini Chowdhury.
Intel and the foundation said, the plan is to collect and analyze data from wearables worn by potentially thousands of people suffering from the disease, with the technology capable of tracking "measurable features of Parkinson's, such as slowness of movement, tremor, and sleep quality."
As it expands beyond the PC arena, Intel hopes to capture a share of the growing market for big data analytics and wearable devices in the health sector.An Intel statement said, the research will use "a new big data analytics platform that detects patterns in participant data collected from wearable technologies used to monitor symptoms."
(Agencies)
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