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Potential roles of digital technologies in clinical trials
Author(s) -
Czaja Sara,
Gold Michael,
Bain Lisa J.,
Hendrix James A.,
Carrillo Maria C.
Publication year - 2017
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 - 10.1016/j.jalz.2017.08.001
Subject(s) - miami , miller , library science , associate editor , gerontology , psychology , humanities , psychoanalysis , medicine , art , computer science , ecology , environmental science , soil science , biology
The explosion of digital devices and apps that has transformed many aspects of everyday life is now being felt in the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) drug development world as well. Research indicates that wearable devices and unobtrusive passive sensors that enable the collection of frequent or continuous, objective, and multi-dimensional data during daily activities may capture subtle changes in cognition and functional capacity long before dementia sets in. The potential to exploit these technologies to improve clinical trials as both recruitment tools and endpoints was the topic selected by the Alzheimer’s Association’s Research Roundtable (AARR) for its spring meeting May 23–24, 2017. The Roundtable invited technology experts to join with clinicians and scientists from the pharmaceutical industry, academia, and government to examine the state of the science in this field and discuss how to incorporate these technologies in AD trials while ensuring that participant privacy is protected. “We’ve clearly seen that technology application with these devices offers a new approach in the areas of assessment and measurement,” said meeting co-chair Sara Czaja of the University of Miami. “I think the time is ripe for integrating these technology-based approaches into trials within the Alzheimer’s cognitive and functional domains.” Keynote speaker Jeffrey Kaye, from Oregon Health & Science University noted, “It’s not about the technologies per se; it’s about the functions that can be much more effectively measured.” In-home monitoring of walking speed, for example, has been shown to distinguish individuals with mild cognitive impairment from thosewith normal cognition