Clinical utility of digital technologies in Parkinson’s disease

TL;DR

Digital health technologies are transforming Parkinson’s disease treatment by offering tools for patients and healthcare providers in Germany.

Contribution

The paper provides a narrative overview of digital health technologies in Parkinson’s disease with a focus on their clinical utility in Germany.

Findings

Digital health technologies are being used for patient education, empowerment, and improving clinical outcomes in PD.

In Germany, patient-centered DHTs are regulated under the HTA framework as digital health applications (DIGA).

Telemonitoring DHTs are used as medical devices to support healthcare providers and as exploratory endpoints in clinical trials.

Abstract

Digital health technologies (DHTs) are on the verge of changing treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This narrative overview article describes DHTs that are already used or in development, focusing on technologies available in Germany and on their clinical utility. Examples include applications that are primarily used by patients, i.e., tools for patient education and empowerment, but also stand-alone interventions improving clinical outcomes including motor and non-motor symptoms. In Germany, these patient-centered DHTs fall under the HTA framework of digital health applications (DIGA). DHT for telemonitoring, in contrast, are designed to support physicians and other healthcare providers and therefore medical devices. DHT are also used increasingly as exploratory endpoints in trials testing neuroprotective treatments.

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