Is Technology Present in Frailty? Technology a Back-up Tool for Dealing with Frailty in the Elderly: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This study analyzes the technologies used in dealing with frailty within the following areas: prevention, care, diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this paper is, on the one hand, to analyze the extent to which technology is present in terms of its relationship with frailty and what technological resources are used to treat it. Its other purpose is to define new challenges and contributions made by physiotherapy using technology. Eighty documents related to research, validation and/or the ascertaining of different types of hardware, software or both were reviewed in prominent areas. The authors used the following scales: in the area of diagnosis, Fried’s phenotype model of frailty and a model based on trials for the design of devices. The technologies developed that are based on these models accounted for 55% and 45% of cases respectively. In the area of prevention, the results proved similar regarding the use of wireless sensors with cameras (35.71%), and Kinect™ sensors (28.57%) to analyze movements and postures that indicate a risk of falling. In the area of care, results were found referring to the use of different motion, physiological and environmental wireless sensors (46,15%), i.e. so-called smart homes. In the area of treatment, the results show with a percentage of 37.5% that the Nintendo® Wii™ console is the most used tool for treating frailty in elderly persons. Further work needs to be carried out to reduce the gap existing between technology, frail elderly persons, healthcare professionals and carers to bring together the different views about technology. This need raises the challenge of developing and implementing technology in physiotherapy via serious games that may via play and connectivity help to improve the functional capacity, general health and quality of life of frail individuals.

Optimized scoring tool to quantify the functional performance during the sit-to-stand transition with a magneto-inertial measurement unit

“…The recent development of wearable magneto-inertial measurement unit (MIMU) has led to new opportunities for clinical assessment of STS performance (Howcroft et al, 2013;Lepetit et al, 2018;Millor et al, 2013;Sun & Sosnoff, 2018) with the advantage to be intended for clinical routine use (Marin et al 2015) . For instance, STS metrics deduced from MIMU data were already investigated to diagnostic frailty (Mugueta-Aguinaga & Garcia-Zapirain, 2017) or estimate fall risks (Howcroft et al, 2013;Sun & Sosnoff, 2018). However, these studies focused on populations with diagnosed pathologies.…”

FRED: Exergame to Prevent Dependence and Functional Deterioration Associated with Ageing. A Pilot Three-Week Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

“…To respond to this question, we decided to conduct a review in order to ascertain the state of the art from January 2005 to December 2015. The following conclusions were drawn from this state of the art: The application of technological solutions in health care is a field that is constantly expanding and about which there are great expectations both on the part of users and healthcare professionals and carers, despite the reticence existing in this area known as a technology gap [ 4 ]. It is of the utmost importance to continue working to reduce the gap existing between technology, frail elderly persons, healthcare professionals and carers by bringing together the different views about technology and thus stimulate dialogue, an increased awareness and knowledge about the respective fields in order to engage in collaboration on projects that may reduce costs and improve health and quality of life [ 4 ].…”

“…The application of technological solutions in health care is a field that is constantly expanding and about which there are great expectations both on the part of users and healthcare professionals and carers, despite the reticence existing in this area known as a technology gap [ 4 ].…”

Virtual Reality as a Potential Tool to Face Frailty Challenges

“…Moreover, VR-based stimulation can provide frail individuals with engaging and enriching environments, helping them to repeat the exercises harder and longer, thus exploiting the principle of motor learning (Kitago and Krakauer, 2013 ). Furthermore, although VR is currently in the developmental phase in terms of treatment of frailty (Mugueta-Aguinaga and Garcia-Zapirain, 2017 ), VR-based rehabilitation protocols have been already tested for training executive functions in other clinical populations (Faria et al, 2016 ). It is worthy to underline that cognitive training might be particularly demanding for elderly, especially in case of cognitive impairment.…”