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A. McDermott1, C. Haberlin1, J. Moran1
1St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Background: People living with Parkinson Disease (PD) are significantly less active than healthy controls and frequently do not reach the recommended guidelines for physical activity. eHealth is an emerging concept in healthcare which may present opportunities to promote and increase PA in people with PD. The aim of this systematic review was to explore the effects of eHealth in the promotion of PA in people living PD.
Purpose: The purpose of this review was to evaluate the usefulness of ehealth as a means for promoting physical activity in people living with PD.
Methods: Suitable articles were searched for using EMBASE, PsychInfo, Web of Science and OVID Medline databases using a combination of keywords and medical subject headings. Articles were included if they described an eHealth intervention designed to improve and promote PA in people living with PD. Two reviewers screened studies for inclusion.
Results: In total, 1432 articles were considered. 4 studies met eligibility criteria. A variety of platforms designed to increase PA were described in these studies including web and mobile applications, websites and e-mails. PA levels were measured through a variety of measures including self-reported questionnaires, activity monitors and accelerometers. Three of the studies reported improvements in aspects of PA however it was not consistently reported in all study participants. Meta-analysis was not performed because of variations in study design and interventions.
Conclusion(s): It is unclear from the current evidence whether eHealth is effective at promoting PA in people with PD. Even though some of the included studies in this review demonstrated promising results methodological restrictions and the small amount of published studies limit the of these results.
Implications: It is unclear whether ehealth promotes physical activity in this population. However, results from these early studies suggest that physical activities using ehealth are enjoyable and well adhered to in people living with PD.
Funding, acknowledgements: This project was not funded
Keywords: Parkinsons, Physical Activity, ehealth
Topic: Neurology: Parkinson's disease
Did this work require ethics approval? No
Institution: St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Committee: Joint ethics committee of SJH/TUH
Reason: Systematic Review
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
