Fatigue
is reported as the most common symptom by patients with multiple
sclerosis (MS). The physiological and functional parameters related to
fatigue in MS patients are currently not well established. A new
wearable wireless body measurement system, named Fatigue Monitoring
System (FAMOS), was developed to study fatigue in MS. It can
continuously measure electrocardiogram, body-skin temperature,
electromyogram and motions of feet. The goal of this study is to test
the ability of distinguishing fatigued MS patients from healthy subjects
by the use of FAMOS. This paper presents the realization of the
measurement system including the design of both hardware and dedicated
signal processing algorithms. Twenty-six participants including 17 MS
patients with fatigue and 9 sex- and age-matched healthy controls were
included in the study for continuous 24 h monitoring. The preliminary
results show significant differences between fatigued MS patients and
healthy controls. In conclusion, the FAMOS enables continuous data
acquisition and estimation of multiple physiological and functional
parameters. It provides a new, flexible and objective approach to study
fatigue in MS, which can distinguish between fatigued MS patients and
healthy controls. The usability and reliability of the FAMOS should
however be further improved and validated through larger clinical
trials.
Get the system improved so that it is an available tool to measure fatigue, which is very high on the list of problems with MS, but very under investigated. However, with tools to monitor are a step towards being able to treat. Part of the slowness in progress in MS is the lack of responsive outcomes.