Investigators:
Jane Saczynski, Northeastern University
Edward Marcantonio, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
MassAITC Cohort: Year 1 (AD/ADRD)
Project Abstract: Acute illness presents in the most vulnerable organ in the body, among patients with dementia that organ is the brain and acute illness often presents first as delirium, an acute confusional state. This project will evaluate home monitoring devices as early indicators of acute illness in persons with dementia. The study will be conducted in collaboration with the Program for All Inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE) program, a healthcare provider for patients who are nursing home eligible but live at home with family.
Each home will be outfitted with the Withings Big Health Bundle (bed mat, body composition scale, thermometer and blood pressure monitor) and patients will receive a Garmin wearable. These monitoring devices will collect data on changes in health associated with acute illness and that lead to delirium (e.g., sleep disruption, infection, dehydration) over an 8-month follow-up. Caregivers will screen for delirium using a validated measure during follow- up. We hypothesize that changes identified by the remote monitoring devices will precede clinical manifestation of illness as measured by delirium in the patient.