Triggering Postural Movements With Virtual Reality Technology in Healthy Young and Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Validation Study for Early Dementia Screening.

Yu Imaoka,Anne Vanhoestenberghe,Eling D. de Bruin,Nadja Saba

doi:10.3389/fmed.2020.533675

Yu Imaoka, Anne Vanhoestenberghe + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2020.533675

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Abstract

With the ultimate aim of early diagnosis of dementia, a new body balance assessment system with integrated head-mounted display-based virtual reality (VR) has been developed. We hypothesized that people would sway more in anterior-posterior (AP) direction when they were exposed to a VR environment where we intentionally provoked movements in forward and backward directions. A total of 14 healthy older adults (OA) (73.14±4.26 years) and 15 healthy young adults (YA) (24.93±1.49 years) were assessed for group differences in sway behavior. Body sway speed in 22 different conditions with and without VR environments was analyzed. Significant differences and large effect sizes were observed in AP sway under the VR environments (OA with P < 0.02; effect size> 0.61, YA with P < 0.003; effect size> 0.72) compared to the baseline condition without the VR environments. In addition, significant differences were found between the two groups in AP sway in all test conditions (P < 0.01). Our study shows that a VR environment can trigger body sway in an expected direction, which may indicate that it is possible to enhance the sensitivity of balance assessment by integrating immersive VR environments. The result of this study warrants a cross-sectional study in which OA diagnosed with and without dementia are compared on their sway behavior.

Highlights

In our growing aging society, dementia is becoming a relevant problem across the globe
Considering the potential of head-mounted display (HMD)-based virtual reality (VR) technology to generate more immersive VR experience that would contribute to the dual task paradigm and improve the sensitivity of existing assessments, we aimed to develop a new theory-based body balance assessment system consisting of a stabilometer and HMD-based VR technology
We developed a balance assessment with integrated HMD-based VR with the aim of evaluating the effect of HMD-based VR environments on body balance for healthy older adults (OA) and young adults (YA)

Summary

Introduction

In our growing aging society, dementia is becoming a relevant problem across the globe. The deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias more than doubled between 1990 and 2016 to rank fifth among all causes of death [1, 2]. The population with dementia is expected to more than triple from 2018 to 2050 to reach 152 million, and the total worldwide cost of dementia is estimated to reach US$ 2 trillion in 2030 [3]. Despite the dramatic increase in the population with dementia, there is presently no effective disease-modifying cure or treatment [2]. The early diagnosis and detection of dementia disease is important, allowing people with dementia and their families more preventive intervention options.

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