Intelligent Sensing Technologies for the Diagnosis, Monitoring and Therapy of Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.

Nazia Gillani,Tughrul Arslan

doi:10.3390/s21124249

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease is a lifelong progressive neurological disorder. It is associated with high disease management and caregiver costs. Intelligent sensing systems have the capability to provide context-aware adaptive feedback. These can assist Alzheimer’s patients with, continuous monitoring, functional support and timely therapeutic interventions for whom these are of paramount importance. This review aims to present a summary of such systems reported in the extant literature for the management of Alzheimer’s disease. Four databases were searched, and 253 English language articles were identified published between the years 2015 to 2020. Through a series of filtering mechanisms, 20 articles were found suitable to be included in this review. This study gives an overview of the depth and breadth of the efficacy as well as the limitations of these intelligent systems proposed for Alzheimer’s. Results indicate two broad categories of intelligent technologies, distributed systems and self-contained devices. Distributed systems base their outcomes mostly on long-term monitoring activity patterns of individuals whereas handheld devices give quick assessments through touch, vision and voice. The review concludes by discussing the potential of these intelligent technologies for clinical practice while highlighting future considerations for improvements in the design of these solutions for Alzheimer’s disease.

Highlights

Neurological diseases (ND) are the primary cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) [1]
The remaining nine studies dealt with the implementation of solutions involving technologies such as smart devices, the development of software applications that run on these smart devices, and virtual assistants such as robots
The current study presents an overview of the intelligent technologies designed and developed for Alzheimer’s disease management, mentioned in the recent literature from 2015 to 2020

Summary

Introduction

Neurological diseases (ND) are the primary cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) [1]. As in the case of Alzheimer’s, the typical neuropathological hallmarks are the accumulation of beta-amyloid plaques and the formation of protein tau-tangles beside others [3]. These lesions provide interruptions in the synaptic transmissions from one neuron to another. The people that suffer from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s slowly start to lose their cognitive abilities and motor functions. This eventually renders them to be dependent on others for carrying out their activities of daily life (ADLs). No standard cure has been put into practice for these conditions, there have been extensive attempts in this regard [6]

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