Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Oct 7, 2024
Date Accepted: May 20, 2025
What about the use of Wearable Sensors to assess Fall Risk in Neurological Disorders? A Systematic Review.
ABSTRACT
Background:
The fall risk assessment, especially in neurological disorders, is essential to prevent hospitalization, hypomobility and reduced functional independence. Nowadays, the use of wearable sensors is catching on in the field of neurorehabilitation, as they allow an unsupervised fall risk assessment, providing continuous monitoring during daily functional tasks and thus reflecting subject’s real fall risk.
Objective:
We systematically reviewed literature on reliable biomechanical gait parameters detected with wearable devices to assess fall risk in neurological disorders, focusing on Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and post-stroke patients. Additionally, we examined the latest advancements in wearable sensor technology, including best practices for device positioning and data processing techniques.
Methods:
Our comprehensive systematic review search was conducted for all peer-reviewed articles published up to 31 December 2023, using the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and IEEE Xplore, which are the most used databases in the context of health and bioengineering field.
Results:
The 16 included studies involved 2.465 neurological patients, including 189 patients with MS (7 studies), 2.246 patients with PD (9 studies), and 30 patients with stroke (2 studies).
Conclusions:
This review highlights the role of wearable technologies in assessing fall risk in neurological patients. While studies showed variation in methods and a focus on technology over clinical context, the lack of standardization reflects ongoing advancements, which may be seen as a strength. Clinical Trial: PROSPERO registration ID: CRD42023463944
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