It is projected that the number of people with Parkinson’s will double by 2030. Forty percent of people who have Parkinson’s disease do not see a neurologist soon after diagnosis which means that people with Parkinson’s are at significantly greater risk of falls leading to hip fractures.
New findings appearing in the journal “Neurology” discuss the program referred to as the “Connect.Parkinson” study. The study linking neurologists with patients with Parkinson’s disease in their homes via video conferencing shows that telemedicine can successfully deliver quality care.
“Virtual house calls for chronic diseases like Parkinson’s are not only as effective as in-person care but the broader adoption of this technology has the potential to expand access to patient-centered care,” said Ray Dorsey, MD, the David M. Levy Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center www.urmc.rochester.edu (URMC) and lead author of the study.
Parkinson’s particularly lends itself to telemedicine because many aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of the disease are visual which means that the interaction with the doctor primarily consists of listening to the patient and observing them perform certain tasks such as holding their hands out or walking.
The “Connect.Parkinson” project funded by the Patient-Centered Outcome Research Institute https://www.pcori.org is the first national randomized controlled clinical trial for telemedicine for Parkinson’s.
The study led by URMC received support from the National Parkinson’s Foundation www.parkinson.org with additional support from PatientsLikeMe www.patientslikeme.com, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research www.michaeljfox.org, SBR Health www.sbrhealth.com, Vidyo www.vidyo.com, and IDSolutions www.e-idsolutions.com.
The study selected 195 individuals with Parkinson’s in the U.S to participate in the study. Participants either received care through their primary care physician or had their care supplemented with up to four visits via video conferencing with a neurologist that they had not seen before.
The researchers found that the telemedicine visits were as effective as in-person visits in the doctor’s office, with the quality of life reported by the participants as no better or worse for people who received care in their homes as compared with those who received standard care.
To view the “Connect.Parkinson” trial, go to https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02038959.