Enabling Tech: Wearable technologies

Embed wearable technologies as well as pervasive computing approaches in existing and new clinical research, longitudinal cohort studies as well as in clinical trials to enable continuous capture of various types of participant relevant data.

Support development of wearable/sensor data standards and automated scripts that convert incoming data into a standardized format to enable their integration with other types of patient level data (clinical, molecular, digital).

2030 PAR-14-089: Early Stage Clinical Trials for the Spectrum of Alzheimer's Disease and Age-related Cognitive Decline (R01) PAR-16-365: Early Stage Clinical Trials for the Spectrum of Alzheimer's Disease and Age-related Cognitive Decline (R01) PAR-18-175: Early Stage Clinical Trials for the Spectrum of Alzheimer's Disease and Age-related Cognitive Decline (R01) PAR-18-877: Early Stage Clinical Trials for the Spectrum of Alzheimer's Disease and Age-related Cognitive Decline (R01) PAR-18-329: Technology to Detect, Monitor and Assess Daily Functions in Individuals with Cognitive Decline, Alzheimer's Disease and/or Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) (R43/R44) PAS-18-187: Advancing Research on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and ADRD (R43/R44) PAS-19-316: Advancing Research on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and ADRD (R43/R44, Reissue of PAS-18-187) PAS-19-317: Advancing Research on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Alzheimer's-Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD) (R41/R42 Clinical Trial Optional) NOT-AG-20-017: Notice of Special Interest: Digital Technology for Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias RFA-AG-21-009: Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratories for Aging Research (P30 – Clinical Trial Optional) NOT-AG-20-017: Digital Technology for Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias NOT-AG-21-048: Digital Technology for Early Detection and Monitoring of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias NOT-OD-23-165: Notice of NIH Participation in the National Science Foundation Solicitation NSF 23-614: Smart Health and Biomedical Research in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Data Science 11.C In Progress Embed wearable technologies as well as pervasive computing approaches in existing and new clinical research... DN 2015 AD Summit: 4C, 4F, 4G, and 4I 2017 Dementia Care Summit: 12.1, 12.2, 12.3 and 12.4 2018 AD Summit: 6G and 6D 2021 AD Summit: 6.H

Blog: Beyond smart phones: Applying sensors and devices for healthier aging Enabling Technologies and Disease Monitoring MCI and Alzheimer’s Disease Screening Using Upper-Extremity Dual-Task Optimizing Cognitive Assessment in DIAN with Smartphone-based Burst Testing Managing Vascular Dementia Risk Factors with SymTrend An Innovative Platform for Objective Monitoring of Instrumental Activities Unobstrusive remote monitoring to identify and track meaningful change in daily function in community dwelling older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s Disease Smartphone phenotype collection for diagnostic screening of mild cognitive impairment Digital Technology and Biomarker Core (DTBC) at the OHSU ADRC Administrative supplement to the BUADRC to add cutting-edge research to characterize ADRC participants with digital health metrics and share these new approaches through dissemination of didactics for early career investigators Collaborative Aging Research Using Technology (CART) Examples of funded projects Creating adaptive, wearable technologies to assess and intervene for individuals with ADRDs Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratories Awards Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratories: Awarded Pilot Studies Projects funded under RFA-AG-22-020 Projects funded under NOT-AG-20-017 in FY22 2016

  • Introduce the use of mobile/pervasive computing technologies in at least 3 existing and 3 new clinical research studies conducted across diverse populations. The studies should be designed to allow the collection of raw sensor data to enable pooling of data across studies. The sensor collection apps and data collection server infrastructure used in these studies should be built and released as open source tools.
  • These efforts should include the development of wearable/sensor data standards and support for the development of automated scripts that convert incoming data into a standardized format to enable their integration with other types of patient level data (clinical, molecular, digital).
  • Support research aimed at discovering optimal ways to integrate digital technologies into current and future trials and optimize the analysis and interpretation of the collected data.

Summary of Key Accomplishments

This milestone is in progress. NIA has supported several projects (many through NOT-AG-20-017) on the use of digital technology, including wearables and sensors, designed to detect changes in physical activity and sleep, for example, that may signal early cognitive decline before typical symptoms are identified by cognitive assessments or biomarkers.

With co-funding from multiple Institutes, NIA supported a large multi-site research platform called Collaborative Aging Research Using Technology (CART). CART engaged four research sites and diverse research participants to ensure that technologies for aging in place are inclusive, widely applicable, and can be easily integrated into a variety of future research studies.

The Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratories (AITCs), funded by NIA at the end of FY2021, are major infrastructure projects that will serve as a national resource to promote the development and implementation of artificial intelligence approaches and technology to improve care and health outcomes for older Americans, including persons living with dementia and their care partners.

The key accomplishments summary is current as of July 2022.