Effect of SpiroGym App in Patients With Parkinson's Disease

Airway protective disorders, including swallowing (dysphagia) and cough (dystussia) are common in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Disturbances in these protective mechanisms increase the risk of aspiration pneumonia. In fact, aspiration pneumonia is the leading cause of death in individuals with PD. Expiratory muscle strength training (EMST) studies have reported significant improvements in the field of airway protective therapies. EMST represents a treatment that can be quantified and translated into functional outcomes that can directly improve functions related to coughing, swallowing, and speech in patients with PD. However, information about detraining outcomes presented in Troche et al. 2014 highlights the need for the development of long-term maintenance programs to sustain training gains following intensive periods of EMST, especially considering the progressive nature of PD. Low long-term adherence to home exercise is an important issue in many patient groups and may compromise treatment outcomes. In patients with PD, this is further compounded by a wide variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as apathy and depression. Therefore, we developed a mobile phone-based visual feedback application (SpiroGym app.) to keep patients motivated to continue EMST following intensive periods of training. The usability of a SpiroGym app was tested in individuals with PD and the findings indicate that EMST coupled with SpiroGym app is feasible and potentially useful in PD patients. Present study aims to verify and extend the encouraging results of this study which showed a potential self-efficacy benefit of the SpiroGym application.