2024 · IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society · open access
Assessing Free-Living Postural Sway in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis
Meyer et al.
The finding, in our words
Remote monitoring of postural sway in multiple sclerosis showed weaker discrimination for fall risk than lab-based measures (AUC 0.51 vs 0.79), but a subject-specific clustering approach improved remote performance to AUC 0.74 and strengthened associations with patient-reported balance and mobility, indicating that carefully selected remote data can support decentralised assessment of fall risk.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
A direct-to-participant, multichannel recruitment strategy enrolled 34,244 older adults into a virtual trial testing an Apple Watch based heart health programme with electrocardiogram and irregular rhythm notification features, achieving broad geographic and gender diversity but under-representing non-White ethnic groups.
Analysis of six studies revealed that decentralised clinical trial elements enhanced data completeness by enabling direct access to medical records, although this introduced a significant burden for data abstraction. The results suggest that decentralised approaches are not a universal solution but provide specific metrics that can help design fit-for-purpose trials.
Wearable-derived digital biomarkers have been accepted by regulatory agencies as endpoints in clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, showing their potential to support decentralised diagnostics through patient-centric monitoring. This matters because it enables more sensitive and continuous assessment of disease progression outside clinical settings.
Ma et al., Neurology and therapy (paywalled) · source ↗
The High-Definition Oncology feasibility study in 30 women with metastatic cancer demonstrated high adherence to biospecimen collection (97.4% plasma, 80.7% stool) and wearable monitoring (70–95% of days captured for activity, heart rate, sleep, and oxygen saturation). This establishes a viable framework for decentralised, multimodal data collection in oncology to support individualised treatment models.
Garma et al., JCO precision oncology (paywalled) · source ↗
Smartwatch photoplethysmography demonstrated high accuracy for continuous atrial fibrillation burden monitoring in 728 patients when validated against patch electrocardiography, achieving 98.7% sensitivity and 99.6% specificity at interval level with near-perfect correlation (r=0.999). This establishes wearables as a viable tool for long-term cardiac rhythm surveillance outside hospital, enabling patient-centric remote monitoring.
Zuo et al., JACC. Clinical electrophysiology (paywalled) · source ↗