New research has found a person's typing speed can reveal early signs of Parkinson's disease, the Daily Mail reported.
How long it takes for a person to press different keys on a keyboard can be a telltale indication if they are suffering from hand tremors, a symptom of the condition.
It can occur six years before a person is diagnosed with the disease. Early diagnosis is crucial to be able to slow down the disease's progression.
For the study, the team examined 76 people for nine months. 27 of them had a mild form of the condition that did not need to be treated with medication. 15 were found to have hand tremors, but it did not mean they had Parkinson's.
A programmed was installed in each participant’s at-home computer keyboards to be able to monitor how fast they typed.
Their speed was 'compared against the standard frequency of a Parkinson's patient's hand tremor, which is 4-to-6 Hz', the report revealed.
The results showed this way helped diagnoses mild Parkinson's with 80% accuracy.
"The end-game is to develop a widely-available screening test for both GP’s and individuals," study author Warwick Adams told the New Scientist.
