Wearable devices may aid the recognition of fluctuation-related pain in Parkinson’s disease—An exploratory, cross-sectional analysis of two prospective observational studies

Fluctuation-related pain (FRP) affects more than one third of people with Parkinson’s disease (PwP, PD) and has a harmful effect on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), but often remains under-reported by patients and neglected by clinicians. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends The Parkinson KinetiGraph TM (the PKG TM ) for remote monitoring of motor symptoms. We investigated potential links between the PKG TM -obtained parameters and clinical rating scores for FRP in PwP in an exploratory, cross-sectional analysis of two prospective studies: “ The Non-motor International Longitudinal , Real-Life Study in PD—NILS ” and “ An observational-based registry of baseline PKG™ in PD—PKGReg ”. 63 PwP (41.3% female; age: 64.24±9.88 years; disease duration, DD: 6.83±5.63 years; Hoehn and Yahr Stage, H&Y: 2 (1–4); Levodopa Equivalent Daily Dose 535 (0–3230) mg) were included. PwP with FRP (n = 23) had longer DD (8.88 (1.29–19.05) vs. 3.16 (0.34–28.92), p = 0.001), higher severity of motor symptoms (H&Y 3 (1–4) vs. 2 (1–4), p = 0.015; SCOPA Motor total score 21.35±10.19 vs. 13.65±8.99, p = 0.003), more dyskinesia (SCOPA Motor Item 18 ≥1 60.9% vs. 7.5%, p