Researchers from the Life Supporting Technologies at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) in Spain have developed a new wearable technology capable of collecting and processing accelerometry signals to monitor and quantify symptoms of patients with Parkinson's disease.

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Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. According to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year.

The research aims to use low-cost sensor devices, which will be worn by the patients, to continuously gather and process accelerometry signals.

The new wearable technology works with a mobile app and a decision support system that enables doctors and healthcare experts to gather and manage information generated by these sensors.

The technology will help create a profile of the disease for each patient. The information needed will be sent to hospitals and can alert doctors in case of any outlier.

In addition to the development of the new technology, the research group at the university is leading a project called PERFORM (A soPhisticatEd multi-paRametric system FOR the continuous effective assessment and Monitoring of motor status in Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases).

The project is partially funded by the European Commission through the Seventh Framework Programme that includes hospitals, major companies and universities from Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom.

TagsLife Supporting Technologies, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM, Spain, Parkinson's disease, Wearable Technology, PERFORM Project, European Comission