Comparison Study and North-up or Track-up Electronic Maps with and Without Landmarks on the Wayfinding Performance of Mild Alzheimer's Disease Ppatients

Abstract

In an aging society, safety of the elderly is an important public issue. Previous studies focused on the wayfinding ability of normal aged people, while lacking the description on the dementic patients. This study is intended to find out an effective guiding system for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This study compared the results of two most commonly used navigation systems, including one with a constant north direction (north-up system) and the other with a constant heading direction (track-up system). Through four different exams on a virtual three-dimensional simulated maze, the ability of wayfinding in three different groups of elderly (Normal aging/MCI/Early AD patients) with different navigation systems is compared. The result showed that track-up map system could effectively improve the wayfinding ability of people with AD and MCI. We also noticed several surrogate markers in cognitive tests that were correlated with the performance of wayfinding. This study has provided insight to establish future electronic navigation maps built for patients with cognitive impairment.