A Gait and Path Tortuosity System for Monitoring Cognitive Decline in Individuals at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease and/or Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD)

Project Summary/Abstract Proposed is a sensing system that unobtrusively measures and reports gait properties that are correlated to accepted measures of cognitive decline. Significance: As of 2023, there were 6.7 million Americans living with AD/ADRD. Due to the aging demographics, this number is projected to double by 2050 at an estimated annual direct cost of $1.1 trillion. Measures of cognitive decline can help to inform family members, caregivers, and health-care providers about the functional status and needs of independent-living older individuals. The need to improve the assessment of cognitive changes affecting daily functions has been identified by the NIH and National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Many ADLs such as shopping, housecleaning, and bathing are difficult to measure objectively. Measuring these ADLs is generally manually intensive, often requiring direct supervision by a caregiver. The changing US demographics indicates that more aging adults will no longer have the frequent interaction with caregivers required to make these measures accurately. Hypothesis: A remotely administered system can be created that can accurately measure in-community gait parameters and be used to monitor signs of cognitive decline. Specific Aims: In Phase II, IDL will 1) Complete production- ready hardware and software systems; 2) Optimize and evaluate the performance of gait parameter estimation algorithms; and 3) Evaluate system’s performance through in-lab and in-community testing.