The Effect of Parkinson Kinetigraph Recordings on the Management and Outcome in Parkinson's Disease

With time most people with Parkinson's disease (PwP) develop fluctuations in motor symptoms in relation to medication intake. The prevalence may be both under and overestimated as it is based on history rather than observation. Patterns in fluctuations are difficult to determine and it has been demonstrated that every 30-minute diaries need to be kept for 10 days or more to safely represent fluctuation patterns. The Parkinson Kinetigraph (PKG) is an automated system that is carried passively and provides similar information after wearing the device for 6 days. Clinical experience is that most patients agree that results are representative to their experiences. It is not known if using the PKG routinely at any stage of PD will change management of the disease. The hypothesis of this study is that providing PKG information to neurologists will lead to a more active management that may improve outcome in PD patients.

Patients that have previously not performed a PKG recording will be recruited from the WestPORTS community based cohort of outpatients with PD in West Sweden. The WestPORTS study includes self-assessments like PDQ8 and NMS-Q as well as PKG recordings. On inclusion in WestPORTS-Int subjects will be randomized by minimization for age, gender and disease duration into one of two study arms. In the intervention group the PKG recording of the subject will be made available, together with a summarized interpretation, to the subject's regular neurologist/geriatrician before the next scheduled visit/contact. The neurologist will also be provided with PDQ8 and NMS-Q responses. In the control group only PDQ8 and NMS-Q responses will be available to the treating neurologist/geriatrician.

At the next regular visit/contact the physician will fill out an assessment of the state of the patient, whether stable or in need of change in management. Any contraindications to changed management will be noted and the decision to change or not change management will be recorded as the primary outcome of the study. Secondary outcomes are the patient reported experience of outpatient care according to a modified version of the Generic Short Patient Experiences Questionnaire (GS-PEQ), as well as patient reported (PDQ8, NMS-Q, PRO-PD, EQ5D5L) and PKG outcomes at a time point three months later.

Change of management is defined as any of the following:

1. Adding or stopping a dopamine agonist, COMT- or MAO-inhibitor, anticholinergic or amantadine.
2. Fractionation or de-fractionation of the current daily levodopa dose
3. Change of current Levodopa Equivalent daily dose by 15% or more
4. Start or stop of night medication
5. Referral for device assisted therapy (LCIG, apomorphine pump or DBS)

Actual change of management (as opposed to decision to change) will be documented by retrospective review of medical records and prescription records. This will be a secondary measure.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

1. Clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (ICD G209) according to medical records
2. A visit to an outpatient neurological or geriatric clinic in the region Vastra Gotaland, Sweden within the last -1 to -7 months according to medical records.
3. Randomized to invitation to participate in the WestPORTS objective measurement Cohort study (NCT03130595) by 1:4 randomization based on the full population fulfilling criteria 1 and 2.
4. Written informed consent
5. No previous PKG recording has been performed with the subject.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Withdrawal of consent.
2. Unable to wear a PKG on either wrist.
3. The patient's physician is the PI of the study (F Bergquist)