eHealth tools to assess the neurological function for research, in absence of the neurologist: a systematic review, part II (hardware)

Background: Neurological disorders pose a substantial burden worldwide in healthcare and health research. eHealth has emerged as a promising field given its potential to aid research, with lower resources. With a changing eHealth landscape, identifying available tools is instrumental for informing future research. A systematic review aimed to map existing software and hardware eHealth assessing neurological signs and/or symptoms for research was conducted. In this second part, the results on hardware are presented.

Methods: We searched for relevant literature using four search engines (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, & EBSCOHost). eHealth software tools have been described elsewhere, and this paper reports hardware tools only. Data extraction focused on collecting the main characteristics of each tool, including the device type and size, the tool setup, and the neurological components assessed. The data were then summarised in tables.

Findings: This review captured and described 45 relevant hardware tools. They assessed signs and/or symptoms of five neurological domains: cognitive function, cranial nerves, motor function, posture, gait & coordination, and sensation. Heterogeneity among tool types and setups was high, with most tools assessing posture, gait, & coordination. Over time, there has been an increase in the simplification and versatility of tools, with a preference for commercially available and easily accessible hardware.

Interpretation: There is already a considerable number of hardware eHealth assessing neurological function that can be used for research purposes. Furthermore, commercially available tools, such as sensors, appear to be preferred due to their reduced costs, easy setup, and high portability. This opens new opportunities to extend neuroepidemiological research cost-effectively, efficiently, and adaptively.