Guo G, Zhang H, Yao L, Li H, Xu C, Li Z, Xu W. (2021). MSLife — Digital behavioral phenotyping of multiple sclerosis symptoms in the wild using wearables and graph-based statistical analysis. Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol. 5, 4, Article 158 (December 2021). https://doi.org/10.1145/3494970
MSLife is a program to identify and track behavioral symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease with a variety of symptoms including depression, fatigue, and sleep problems. MSLife was implemented in a clinical pilot study for one week among 30 MS patients. GENEActiv smartwatches with light sensors and accelerometers were utilized to monitor daily life activities. Clinical behavioral instruments were used to assess MS symptoms. Data was evaluated using a graph-based statistical analysis framework to identify relationships between MS symptoms and daily life activities, incorporating participants’ demographic characteristics. The pilot study found that the digital behavioral symptoms significantly improve the tracking of MS symptoms. This new approach can potentially be applied to future studies exploring behavioral characteristics of chronic diseases. MSLife also indicates that use of smartwatches can be effective and feasible for monitoring MS symptoms and progression.