Using new wearable technology to monitor Niemann-Pick disease

A smartphone app, combined with wearable technology, will allow doctors to remotely monitor patients with conditions that limit their ability to voluntarily move their muscles. The app, known as 'aparito', uses a motion-tracking writsband to record the movements of patients with ataxia, and other related ambulatory conditions.

The data from the tracker is sent via a smartphone app, where it can be combined with other information such as medication adherence and events such as falls or seizures. Healthcare professionals can have constant access to this information via the web.

Great Ormond Street BRC-researcher Professor Paul Gissen, has been working closely with aparito, and Great Ormond Street Hospital is to be the first in the UK to use this new wearable technology in clinical practice. Patients could receive fewer tests and have shorter hospital visits by using the app, which will monitor routine activity in a continuous, non-invasive way.