Researchers from DZNE and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg have identified individuals with increased risk for dementia using mobility data, recorded during a smartphone-based wayfinding task on the university campus. The findings, reported in the journal PLOS Digital Health , show the potential of smartphone data, collected in conditions close to everyday life, for the early detection and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease. The study included 72 adults; about a third of them with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a condition that is a known risk factor for dementia.
Alzheimer's disease usually develops unnoticed over years and eventually leads to dementia. To date, there is no cure. Currently, Alzheimer's is often treated too late to ensure effective therapy.
Even the new antibody drugs that are being much discussed at the moment only work if they are given at an early stage. Thus, we need to be able to diagnose the disease earlier, when symptoms are still mild. This requires advances in diagnostics.
" Dr. Anne Maass, research group leader at DZNE and guest professor at the University Magdeburg With colleagues, she now tested a novel approach to assessing problems in spatial navigation, as one of the first potential symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. App in use "Our study is based on a kind of scavenger hunt where participants had to find pre-specified points-of-interest.
For this, they used a smartphone equipped with a special app that we developed," explains Dr. Nadine.
