Telemedicine and remote monitoring for people with Parkinson’s disease

This thesis aims to advance telemedicine, particularly remote monitoring, for individuals with Parkinson's disease. It contains three areas of investigation: maintaining access to care, capturing objective data at home, and providing proactive care.
The first contribution emphasizes the critical role of telemedicine in ensuring continued access to healthcare, especially highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote consultations and treatments facilitate care delivery, although they may reduce important personal interaction.
The second contribution focuses on remote monitoring technologies that gather detailed objective information about people with Parkinson’s disease daily functioning. Such data can be useful for healthcare professionals, particularly physiotherapists, and people with Parkinson’s disease to gain insight in functioning at home, for example fall incidents and physical activity. The usability of these systems varies among users, influenced by factors such as cognitive abilities and digital literacy.
The third contribution explores the potential of telemedicine to deliver proactive care by monitoring modifiable risk factors related to common complications of Parkinson’s disease. By identifying important causal risk factors for these complications, this thesis aims to support prevention efforts utilizing telemedicine tools.
Overall, this thesis investigated how telemedicine and remote monitoring can enhance care for people with Parkinson’s disease.