Exploration of Digital Technologies for Cognitive Health Monitoring
HSS Investigators: Honghuang Lin, Apurv Soni, David McManus
Funding Agency: American Heart Association (AHA)
Status: Ongoing
Project Overview: Cognitive decline remains the most significant behavioral symptom of dementia. Accurate cognitive assessment, however, is fraught with limitations because cognitive performance is affected by numerous factors that are independent of the underlying actual cognitive status. Further, longitudinal monitoring of cognitive skills from asymptomatic to disease over the course of potentially decades is becoming increasingly challenging with the mobility of the U.S. population. Recent advances in digital technologies such as tablets, smartphones, and IoT-linked devices offer an unprecedented opportunity for health-related data acquisition and communications. Features such as high-fidelity microphones, accelerometers, high-definition lenses, GPS locators, and gyroscopes can be used to capture an endless stream of medically relevant information. As one of five American Heart Association Health Technologies & Innovation Centers, we are exploring digital technologies to monitor cognitive health and detect neurobehavioral changes at the preclinical state among participants of diverse races and ancestries. We are also exploring the potential of digital biomarkers for cognitive health. Our goal is to find new strategies to optimize brain health across the lifespan, which will lead to a transformative public health-driven focus on disease prevention and precision brain health.