German researchers have developed an application capable of identifying people at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by having them participate in a sort of treasure hunt/orienteering course.
- Researchers were able to identify people at increased risk of dementia using mobility data recorded during an “orienteering”.
- Through their application, they noticed that people suffering from subjective cognitive decline stopped more than others.
- So for researchers, smartphone data can help detect subtle signs of cognitive decline.
“Currently, Alzheimer’s disease is often treated too late to ensure effective therapy. New antibody drugs, which are being talked about a lot at the moment, only work if they are administered at an early stage. We We must therefore be able to diagnose the disease earlier, when the symptoms are still mild. This requires progress in diagnosis.explains Dr Anne Maass, head of the DZNE research group and professor at the University of Magdeburg in a press release.
To identify neurodegenerative pathology more quickly, the scientist and her colleagues had the idea of developing an application capable of identifying spatial navigation problems, one of the first potential symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, during a sort of “treasure hunt” or “orienteering”.
Their work was detailed in an article published in the journal PLOS Digital Health.
Alzheimer’s: suspicious arrests in patients at risk during orientation
For this study, the researchers brought together 72 participants, 23 of whom suffered from subjective cognitive decline (DCS). These are people who feel a loss of mental capacity, but this is not detected by traditional neuropsychological tests. Previous work has demonstrated that it is a risk factor for dementia. All volunteers were tasked with finding several buildings on the medical campus of the University of Magdeburg independently, using an app. The latter displayed the map indicating the volunteer’s current position, their next destination as well as a photo of the point of interest sought. On the other hand, the map disappeared as soon as the person started walking.
“The participants had to memorize the layout of the streets, their position and their destination, then follow their sense of orientation and their spatial memory,” explains Jonas Marquardt, first author of the study. If they got lost, they could press a help button in the application then briefly reappeared. The team took GPS data from the app and analyzed it. She thus identified individual mobility profiles.
“Overall, the younger participants performed better. On average, they covered shorter distances and generally did not use the help function as often as the older ones,” explains Jonas Marquardt. Differences between older adults with and without subjective cognitive decline were mainly reflected in the number of orienting stops. Elderly people with DCS took brief breaks during walking more often, probably. for orientation, than older people without disorder. In fact, we were able to identify participants with DCS based on this parameter.
Dementia: a new path for earlier diagnoses
Researchers have not yet been able to determine why people with subjective cognitive decline stood out so much when analyzing data from their “treasure hunt” app.
“The results of our study are nevertheless a promising proof of concept. They show that smartphone data can help detect subtle signs of cognitive decline in realistic contexts,” explains Nadine Diersch who also worked on the study. “I could imagine such apps being used in the future to identify people at risk and then decide whether further testing or therapy is needed”concludes the scientist.