New research suggests fitness bands could be used to detect the earliest
This was told by a group of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Relationship between neurodegeneration and motoractivity is well known. What's more, over the past few years, researchers have discovered that they can accurately diagnose Alzheimer's simply by tracking a patient's gait.
The new study analyzed data585 people. The researchers found that during the afternoon, from noon to 6 p.m., subjects with cognitive impairments moved significantly less than healthy people. The movement in the afternoon in the impaired group was also fragmented, that is, the activity was broken up into noticeable short bursts.
Lead study author Amal Wanigatunga said this reduction in movement in the afternoon is reminiscent of a known phenomenon in Alzheimer's disease called "sundowning."
"See that difference in the afternoonit was interesting– One of the core symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia is the "sundowning" phenomenon, which involves increased confusion and mood changes that begin in the afternoon, and it may be that these activity markers capture some of the movements associated with these symptoms." explained Wanigatunga.
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