TY - JOUR
T1 - Feasibility and usability of remote monitoring in Alzheimer's disease
AU - Muurling, Marijn
AU - de Boer, Casper
AU - Hinds, Chris
AU - Atreya, Alankar
AU - Doherty, Aiden
AU - Alepopoulos, Vasilis
AU - Curcic, Jelena
AU - Brem, Anna-Katharine
AU - Conde, Pauline
AU - Kuruppu, Sajini
AU - Morató, Xavier
AU - Saletti, Valentina
AU - Galluzzi, Samantha
AU - Vilarino Luis, Estefania
AU - Cardoso, Sandra
AU - Stukelj, Tina
AU - Kramberger, Milica Gregoric
AU - Roik, Dora
AU - Koychev, Ivan
AU - Hopøy, Ann-Cecilie
AU - Schwertner, Emilia
AU - Gkioka, Mara
AU - Aarsland, Dag
AU - Visser, Pieter Jelle
AU - RADAR-AD Consortium
PY - 2024/4/9
Y1 - 2024/4/9
N2 - INTRODUCTION: Remote monitoring technologies (RMTs) can measure cognitive and functional decline objectively at-home, and offer opportunities to measure passively and continuously, possibly improving sensitivity and reducing participant burden in clinical trials. However, there is skepticism that age and cognitive or functional impairment may render participants unable or unwilling to comply with complex RMT protocols. We therefore assessed the feasibility and usability of a complex RMT protocol in all syndromic stages of Alzheimer's disease and in healthy control participants. METHODS: For 8 weeks, participants (N = 229) used two activity trackers, two interactive apps with either daily or weekly cognitive tasks, and optionally a wearable camera. A subset of participants participated in a 4-week sub-study (N = 45) using fixed at-home sensors, a wearable EEG sleep headband and a driving performance device. Feasibility was assessed by evaluating compliance and drop-out rates. Usability was assessed by problem rates (e.g., understanding instructions, discomfort, forgetting to use the RMT or technical problems) as discussed during bi-weekly semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: Most problems were found for the active apps and EEG sleep headband. Problem rates increased and compliance rates decreased with disease severity, but the study remained feasible. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a highly complex RMT protocol is feasible, even in a mild-to-moderate AD population, encouraging other researchers to use RMTs in their study designs. We recommend evaluating the design of individual devices carefully before finalizing study protocols, considering RMTs which allow for real-time compliance monitoring, and engaging the partners of study participants in the research.
AB - INTRODUCTION: Remote monitoring technologies (RMTs) can measure cognitive and functional decline objectively at-home, and offer opportunities to measure passively and continuously, possibly improving sensitivity and reducing participant burden in clinical trials. However, there is skepticism that age and cognitive or functional impairment may render participants unable or unwilling to comply with complex RMT protocols. We therefore assessed the feasibility and usability of a complex RMT protocol in all syndromic stages of Alzheimer's disease and in healthy control participants. METHODS: For 8 weeks, participants (N = 229) used two activity trackers, two interactive apps with either daily or weekly cognitive tasks, and optionally a wearable camera. A subset of participants participated in a 4-week sub-study (N = 45) using fixed at-home sensors, a wearable EEG sleep headband and a driving performance device. Feasibility was assessed by evaluating compliance and drop-out rates. Usability was assessed by problem rates (e.g., understanding instructions, discomfort, forgetting to use the RMT or technical problems) as discussed during bi-weekly semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: Most problems were found for the active apps and EEG sleep headband. Problem rates increased and compliance rates decreased with disease severity, but the study remained feasible. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a highly complex RMT protocol is feasible, even in a mild-to-moderate AD population, encouraging other researchers to use RMTs in their study designs. We recommend evaluating the design of individual devices carefully before finalizing study protocols, considering RMTs which allow for real-time compliance monitoring, and engaging the partners of study participants in the research.
KW - Alzheimers < disease
KW - apps < personalised medicine
KW - dementia < disease
KW - digital health < general
KW - eHealth < general
KW - neurology < medicine
KW - remote clinical trials < studies
KW - remote patient monitoring <personalised medicine
KW - wearables < personalised medicine
U2 - 10.1177/20552076241238133
DO - 10.1177/20552076241238133
M3 - Article
SN - 2055-2076
VL - 10
JO - Digital health
JF - Digital health
ER -