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Use of in‐home remote sensing to measure dietary behavior and weight in aging and cognitive decline: A pilot study
Author(s) -
Wright Kirsten M,
Mattek Nora,
Gothard Sarah,
Beattie Zachary,
Sharma Nicole,
Dodge Hiroko H,
Kaye Jeffrey
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.043908
Subject(s) - medicine , cognition , dementia , gerontology , cognitive decline , cohort , weight loss , longitudinal study , environmental health , disease , obesity , psychiatry , pathology
Background Weight loss has been associated with earlier onset of dementia and accelerated cognitive decline. Current methods of assessing nutritional health, including body mass and dietary habits, occur in clinic settings semiannually to annually. A home‐based non‐invasive system allows for continuous data collection that could generate clinically meaningful and reliable data providing insight into subtle changes in disease progression, nutritional health and response to treatment. To properly utilize remote sensing approaches in assessing dietary behavior, potentially more sensitive, objective and ecologically valid measures need to be longitudinally acquired and analyzed for feasibility and acceptability in real world, home environments. Method A cohort analysis of 66 participants enrolled in prospective longitudinal aging studies with in‐home digital monitoring was performed. Contact sensors attached to refrigerator doors were used to assess the number of door openings per day as a measure of dietary frequency. Daily weight measurements were collected using an in‐home wireless bioimpedence scale. Correlations between dietary frequency and cognitive status (Mini Mental State Examination; MMSE) were performed within 30 days of cognitive assessment. Result There is a positive correlation between cognitive status and average number of refrigerator door openings per day (n=66, r=0.31, p=0.01). Remote measures of body weight show increases around known periods of increased food consumption. Conclusion Dietary frequency, as measured by refrigerator door openings, and weight are feasible to collect in elders using a non‐invasive home‐based remote system. Continued longitudinal measurements and analysis are needed to determine long‐term feasibility, adherence and acceptability of remote measures of nutritional health.