JTrack: A Digital Biomarker Platform for Remote Monitoring in Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases

Objective: Health-related data being collected by smartphones offer a promising complementary approach to in-clinic assessments. Here we introduce the JTrack platform as a secure, reliable and extendable open-source solution for remote monitoring in daily-life and digital phenotyping. Method: JTrack consists of an Android-based smartphone application and a web-based project management dashboard. A wide range of anonymized measurements from motion-sensors, social and physical activities and geolocation information can be collected in either active or passive modes. The dashboard also provides management tools to monitor and manage data collection across studies. To facilitate scaling, reproducibility, data management and sharing we integrated DataLad as a data management infrastructure. JTrack was developed to comply with security, privacy and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements. Results: JTrack is an open-source (released under open-source Apache 2.0 licenses) platform for remote assessment of digital biomarkers (DB) in neurological, psychiatric and other indications. The main components of the JTrack platform and examples of data being collected using JTrack are presented here. Conclusion: Smartphone-based Digital Biomarker data may provide valuable insight into daily life behaviour in health and disease. JTrack provides an easy and reliable open-source solution for collection of such data.