Apathy is defined as a disorder of motivation. There is wide acknowledgement that apathy is an important behavioral syndrome in Alzheimer's disease and in various neuropsychiatric disorders. In light of recent research and the renewed interest in the correlates and impacts of apathy and in its treatments, it is important to develop criteria for apathy that will be widely accepted, have clear operational steps, and be easy to apply in clinical practice and in research settings. Meeting these needs was the focus for a task force that included members of the European Psychiatric Association, the European Alzheimer's Disease Consortium and experts from Europe, Australia and North America.
Alzheimer disease (AD) and other related dementia represent a major challenge for health care systems within the aging population. It is therefore important to develop better instruments for assessing disease severity and disease progression to optimize patient's care and support to care providers, and also provide better tools for clinical research. In this area, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are of particular interest. Such techniques enable accurate and standardized assessments of patients' performance and actions in real time and real life situations. The aim of this article is to provide basic recommendation concerning the development and the use of ICT for Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. During he ICT and Mental Health workshop (CTAD meeting held in Monaco on the 30th October 2012) an expert panel was set up to prepare the first recommendations for the use of ICT in dementia research. The expert panel included geriatrician, epidemiologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, psychologist, ICT engineers, representatives from the industry and patient association. The recommendations are divided into three sections corresponding to 1/ the clinical targets of interest for the use of ICT, 2/ the conditions, the type of sensors and the outputs (scores) that could be used and obtained, 3/ finally the last section concerns specifically the use of ICT within clinical trials.
Mailland, O. Guerin, A computer system to monitor older adults at home: Preliminary results. Gerontechnology 2009;8(3):129-139, doi: 10.4017/gt.2009.08.03.011.00 Determining the individual transition from the 3 rd to the 4 th or frailty phase of life is important for both the safety of the older person and to support the care provider. We developed an automatic monitoring system consisting of cameras and different sensors that analyze human behaviors and looks for changes in activities by detecting the presence of people, their movements, and automatically recognizing events and Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Assessment took place in a laboratory environment (GERHOME) comprised of four rooms (kitchen, living-room, bedroom, and bathroom). Data from 2 volunteers (64 and 85 years old) were analyzed. Precision in recognizing postures and events ranged from 62-94%, while sensitivity fell in the range of 62-87%. The system could differentiate ADL levels for the 64 and 85 year old subjects. These results are promising and merit replication and extension. Considerable work remains before the complete transition from 3 rd to 4 th life phase can be reliably detected. The GERHOME system is promising in this respect
In order to fully capture the complexity of the behavioural, functioning and cognitive disturbances in Alzheimer Disease (AD) and related disorders information and communication techniques (ICT), could be of interest. This article presents using 3 clinical cases the feasibility results of an automatic video monitoring system aiming to assess subjects involved in a clinical scenario. Method and population: The study was conducted in an observation room equipped with everyday objects for use in activities of daily living. The overall aim of the clinical scenario was to enable the participants to undertake a
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