Abstract
The most frequent form of dementia is Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), a severe progressive neurological pathology in which the main cognitive functions of an individual are compromised. Recent studies have found that loneliness and living in isolation are likely to cause an acceleration in the cognitive decline associated with AD. Therefore, understanding social behaviours of AD patients is crucial to promote sociability, thus delaying cognitive decline, preserving independence, and providing a good quality of life. In this work, we analyze the localization data of AD patients living in assisted care homes to gather insights about the social dynamics among them. We use localization data collected by a system based on iBeacon technology comprising two components: a network of antennas scattered throughout the facility and a Bluetooth bracelet worn by the patients. We redefine the Relational Index to capture wandering and casual encounters, these being common phenomena among AD patients, and use the notions of Relational and Popularity Indexes to model, visualize and understand the social behaviour of AD patients. We leverage the data analyses to build predictive tools and applications to enhance social activities scheduling and sociability monitoring and promotion, with the ultimate aim of providing patients with a better quality of life. Predictions and visualizations act as a support for caregivers in activity planning to maximize treatment effects and, hence, slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. We present the Community Behaviour Prediction Table (CBPT), a tool to visualize the estimated values of sociability among patients and popularity of places within a facility. Finally, we show the potential of the system by analyzing the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown time-frame between February and June 2020 in a specific facility. Through the use of the indexes, we evaluate the effects of the pandemic on the behaviour of the residents, observing no particular impact on sociability even though social distancing was put in place.
Highlights
After performing the grid search, the resulting best performing architecture is the following: 9 × 12 × 64 × 32 × 16 → PIexpected, (4). We observe that both the simplest and most complex model in our selection perform worse than the best configuration we have found through the grid search, suggesting that our range of considered values is suitable for the problem at hand
Our case study is Il Paese Ritrovato, where the tracking system is obtained through Bluetooth bracelets
The localization data we use is collected by a system [13] based on iBeacon technology comprising two components: a network of antennas scattered throughout the facility and a Bluetooth bracelet worn by the patients
Summary
The rapid advancements and new breakthroughs in the medical field combined with the rising awareness towards healthy life practices have allowed people in developed and developing countries to live longer than ever before. On the other hand, declining fertility rates have been observed in many areas of the world, with highly developed countries reporting the lowest numbers. Many societies are currently experiencing a steady increase in the age of their population. In 1990, only 6% of the world population was aged 65 years or over, 10% in 2019 and by 2050 the number is projected to rise to 15%, potentially surpassing that of adolescents, according to the United
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
