Mar 11 2024Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Monitoring daily activity patterns using a wrist-worn device may detect early warning signs of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
For their new study, Spira and colleagues investigated the potential of actigraph-based monitoring in 82 community-dwelling individuals whose average age was about 76. Each participant had a PET scan to measure brain amyloid and wore an actigraph 24 hours per day for one week.
Related StoriesThe only approved treatments that may slow the disease course are those that target amyloid beta and reduce the plaques. Many researchers believe that such treatments can be much more effective if given earlier in the disease course-;ideally, years before dementia becomes evident. The individuals in the new study were participants in a long-running study, the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, which is conducted by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging , part of the National Institutes of Health . Several members of the NIA team were co-authors of the study.
The scientists don't know why amyloid buildup would trigger differences in activity patterns during these particular times of day. They note that there is a well-known phenomenon among individuals with Alzheimer's disease called "sundowning," in which agitation increases in the afternoon and early evening.
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