Dementia Care Research and Psychosocial Factors

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Gerontology

Background:

• Transient ischemic attack (TIA) significantly increases dementia risk, necessitating early detection strategies.
• Subtle gait changes are early indicators of cognitive decline, often assessed in labs.
• Wearable technology offers continuous, real-world monitoring for ecologically valid assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare gait kinematics between healthy individuals and TIA patients.
• To evaluate gait parameter similarities in real-world versus laboratory settings for TIA detection.

Main Methods:

• Collected gait data from TIA patients and healthy controls using wearable sensors.
• Monitored real-world gait over 21 days and conducted laboratory tests (TUG, dual-task).
• Analyzed key gait parameters: step length, gait speed, stride length, and cadence.

Main Results:

• TIA patients showed significantly altered gait parameters (step length, stride length, gait speed, cadence, regularity) in real-world settings compared to controls.
• Gait regularity differences between real-world and lab settings were more pronounced in TIA patients.
• Healthy controls did not show significant differences in gait parameters between real-world and lab settings.

Conclusions:

• Real-world gait measurements using wearables show potential as sensitive markers for TIA-related mobility decline.
• Wearable technology can facilitate early detection and continuous monitoring of TIA.
• Larger studies are required to validate these preliminary findings in TIA patients.