Can We Use Consumer-Wearable Activity Tracker Fitbit in Parkinson Disease?

Abstract

Consumer-wearable activity trackers have been used for monitoring health-related metrics to estimate steps, distance, physical activity, energy expenditure, and sleep. The purpose of this mini review was to summarize the evidence for validity of the most popular wrist-worn activity tracker (Fitbit) to estimate those health-related metrics in Parkinson disease. We researched full-length English studies in PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and Scopus, through September, 2021. In total, 27 studies and a textbook description were included in the review. To adapt consumer-wearable activity trackers for evaluating health-related metrics in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, there may be some points to be elucidated and conquered. First, measurement accuracy and precision are required. Second, inter-device reliability for measuring steps, distance, and energy expenditure must be considered. Third, wearability: there are some types of device such as wrist-worn, ankle-worn, belt-fixed, and so on. Overall, Fitbit has advantage for these points. This mini review indicates that Fitbit has enough measurement accuracy and precision to estimate health-related metrics of PD patients including amount of step, physical activity energy expenditure, and quality of sleep.