Specific changes in our movement patterns can be indicators of various health problems: for example, decreased strength often correlates with risk of falls, mild cognitive impairment, depression, sleep problems, respiratory problems, cardiac arrhythmias and increased myocardial weakness or worsening of a COVID -19 infection. In older people, screening for such changes could help identify chronic conditions such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease or heart disease at an early stage. These age-related health problems are often discovered late, and their progression is often difficult to assess objectively.
An interdisciplinary research team led by Tobias Nef of the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research and Emeritus Professor of Cardiology Hugo Saner of the University of Bern and Bern University Hospital now shows how large-scale sensor-based health monitoring scale could address these issues. . The researchers combined a variety of everyday behavior and activity patterns measured by sensors in the homes of elderly study participants, helping them create a summary picture.
We use contactless sensors in the home to create a vast collection of digital measurements that capture broad parts of daily life, behavior and physiology, in order to identify health risks for older people at an early stage.”
Dr. Narayan Schütz, first author of the study and postdoctoral researcher
This can benefit early detection, as well as encourage the development of personalized treatments and the investigation of new therapeutic approaches and drugs. The study was published in npj digital medicine.
Reliable system accepted by seniors
The researchers initially collected 1,268 health parameters using interaction-free sensors specially adapted to the elderly population. The implemented system consists of simple, contactless motion sensors in each room, a bed sensor under the mattress, and door sensors on the front door and on the refrigerator. Connected to a base station, the system analyzes recorded motion signals and can inform relatives or an alarm center in the event of problems or emergencies, such as when a person doesn’t go back to bed at night. The researchers then evaluated the data collected in this way using machine learning approaches.
“We were able to show that such a systems approach, in contrast to the common use of some health metrics, detects age-relevant health issues such as cognitive decline, risk of falling or frailty surprisingly well,” says Tobias. Naf, teacher. of Gerontecnology and Rehabilitation of the ARTORG Center and co-last author of the study. Compared to wearable devices, this sensor-based home monitoring approach was well perceived among the elderly: as the interdisciplinary research group led by Tobias Nef and Hugo Saner was able to show in a scientific collaboration of computer science, research of behavior and medicine that spanned more than ten years. years, older test subjects in Switzerland found daily operation of mobile devices quite cumbersome, with some unable to handle them at all due to dexterity or cognitive problems. In particular, older adults over the age of 80 clearly preferred a zero-interaction system like the one used in the study.
In addition, data protection and privacy are prioritized: “In order to ensure privacy and data protection on a technical level, the highest Swiss and European medical data security standards are applied,” notes Narayan Schütz. To guarantee privacy, the deployed sensors also do not record sound or video and their installation is completely voluntary, both aspects that the study participants appreciated.
Great potential
Assessing and combining the vast amount of everyday health data also offers the potential to identify potential new digital biomarkers relevant to aging: “For example, we found indications that the risk of falls could be significantly dependent on certain sleep parameters,” explains Tobias Nef.
Prof. Hugo Saner, responsible for the collection of clinical data and co-author of the study, assesses the clinical relevance of the results: “This system marks a milestone in the early detection of worsening health of older people living alone up to old age”. We suppose that it can significantly contribute to older people being able to live at home as long as possible by delaying hospital admissions and transfers to nursing facilities or, in the best case, even avoiding them.” According to the researchers, better early detection and personalized treatment of the typical diseases of old age would not only help older people achieve better health, but also reduce health care costs.
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Magazine Reference:
Schutz, N. et al. (2022). A systems approach to remote health monitoring in older adults: Introducing a zero-interaction digital escape. npj Digital Medicine. doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00657-y.
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