Long-Term Care

Dementia studies take aim with sensor technology

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, June 21, 2007

Researchers with Oregon Health & Science University have begun placing monitors in 300 Portland area homes occupied by people 80 and older, as part of a federally funded, $7 million research project. The goal of the study is to see whether round-the-clock tracking can clue observers in to the subtlest, potentially dementia-driven changes in elder behaviors, according to the Associated Press (AP). Some predictors identified by the team include variations in speed at which the elderly walk their hallways, or slowing down at such quotidian skills as dressing or typing.

The Oregon team is also exploring interactive "kiosks" that give monthly cognition tests, and electronic pill dispensers that track when seniors haven't taken their medications, reported the AP. A similar study was just announced by New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

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