Evaluating the Utility of Smartphone-Based Sensor Assessments in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis in the Real-World Using an App (elevateMS): Observational, Prospective Pilot Digital Health Study

digitalHealth
Multiple sclerosis
participant retention
elevateMS: evaluating smartphone sensor-based assessments in people with multiple sclerosis in a real-world observational study (JMIR).
Author

Pratap A, Grant D, Vegesna A, Tummalacherla M, Cohan S, Deshpande C, Mangravite L, Omberg L

Published

April 18, 2021

Time capsule ahead. These pages capture my past work founding and leading AID4MH Group at CAMH, where we set out to take digital health beyond the lab and into real-world mental health care. A few links may have aged since; the mission hasn’t.

Featured image from the elevateMS study paper in JMIR

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease. Current monitoring practices predominantly rely on brief and infrequent assessments, which may not be representative of the real-world patient experience. Smartphone technology provides an opportunity to assess people’s daily-lived experience of MS on a frequent, regular basis outside of episodic clinical evaluations. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the feasibility and utility of capturing real-world MS-related health data remotely using a smartphone app, “elevateMS,” to investigate the associations between self-reported MS severity and sensor-based active functional tests measurements, and the impact of local weather conditions on disease burden.