Parkinson’s disease as a Working Model for Global Healthcare Restructuration: The Internet of Things and Wearables Technologies

Abstract

With the rapid growth and increased life expectancy of the world’s population, the prevalence of chronic disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) is also increasing. This challenges the current healthcare system in terms of cost and resources reallocation. An emerging approach facilitated by a new technological platform, called the Internet of Things, and the introduction of wearable devices for medical applications is a potential solution to this problem. Miniaturized and low-cost sensor units are placed close to the patients’ body to unobtrusively collect information about their health status. This information is distributed through a smart Internet grid, creating an efficient structure that reduces costs and maximizes the resources. Patient engagement plays a key role in this healthcare restructuration. Here, we discuss the state-of-the-art of this technological revolution with emphasis in Parkinson’s disease. As an example for the application of this platform to PD, we present a potential approach to assess an important symptom- namely postural instability- using wearable sensor technology.