Loading Curie Briefs...
Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Forget the clinic stopwatch — a wearable on your wrist may do a better job. A new study found that tracking real-life walking speed (RWS) via wearable accelerometers detected disability progression earlier and more often than standard clinical tests in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). The findings suggest RWS could become a valuable tool for monitoring MS in everyday life.
Forget the clinic stopwatch — a wearable on your wrist may do a better job. A prospective cohort study of 110 patients with primary progressive MS found that real-life walking speed (RWS), measured continuously via wearable accelerometers over 7-day periods, detected disability progression earlier and more frequently than conventional clinical assessments like the timed 25-foot walk (T25FW) test, the Nine-Hole Peg Test, and the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).
RWS captured a much broader range of walking performance than the T25FW test, which was clustered in a narrow range at baseline. Composite endpoints using RWS also showed significantly higher sensitivity to progression, particularly in patients with lower disability scores.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: As MS therapies increasingly control relapses and MRI activity, detecting subtle functional decline in daily life becomes critical. Wearable-based RWS monitoring offers a practical, sensitive, and patient-relevant biomarker that could reshape how progression is tracked both in clinical trials and routine care.
