ASSESSMENT OF MANUAL DEXTERITY USING A SMARTPHONE IN SUBJECTS WITH PARKINSONS’S DISEASE

Introduction

People with Parkinson’s disease (PD) often complain difficulties in activities involving precise, ample, and rapid hand movements such as the use of a smartphone [1, 2]. The aim of the study was to assess hand dexterity abilities using a smartphone in PD relative to healthy controls using customized tests and software.

Methods

Ten PD and 15 age/sex-matched healthy controls underwent hand dexterity assessments. We assessed hand function using Manual Ability Measure (MAM-36) and the Purdue Pegboard Test (PPT). To obtain objective data on movement speed and amplitude, we developed tests involving the most commonly used gesture when using a smartphone (i.e. tap, swipe, slide). These tests were performed on the touchscreen of a smartphone and consisted in: a) alternatively tap with the thumb on two rectangles (TAP); b) perform swipe gestures to browse pages (SWIPE); c) perform thumb movements to link dots of a grid according to a defined path (Swipe-Slide Pattern – SSP).

Results

Relative to healthy controls, PD showed a lower score in the MAM-36, reduced movement amplitude and speed in TAP, SWIPE and SSP tests and a reduced number of correct sequences in SWIPE and SSP tests. Moreover, a higher number of correct gestures during the SWIPE test correlated with a better motor performance assessed with the UPDRS-III both on and off medication (r>0.66).

Discussion and Conclusion

As expected, PD showed reduced hand dexterity abilities. Interestingly hand dexterity objective outcome measures obtained with the smartphone correlated with the motor performance assessed with clinical scales. This study showed that technological devices can be used to assess dexterity in PD providing objective and task-specific outcome measures of hand dexterity rehabilitation in PD.

 

Funding: Italian Ministry of Health grant GR-2018-12366005.

REFERENCES

[ 1 ] Ponsen MM, et al. Impairment of complex upper limb motor function in de novo Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 2008. Doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2007.07.019

[ 2 ] Lee SH, et al. Impaired finger dexterity and nigrostriatal dopamine loss in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Neural Transmission. 2018. Doi: 10.1007/s00702-018-1901-5