Trend Analysis in the Trajectory of the Dementia Patients

Studies of the navigational patterns of assisted living facility residents with dementia have resulted in many insights into the progression of dementia e.g. more tortuous navigation has been associated with declining mental capability. In this pilot investigation, we found minute changes in navigational features such as speed, path-efficiency, angle-turn and, ambulation-fraction were predictive of cognitive function. In this study, navigational data of 10 subjects living in an assisted living facility were collected daily over a period of one year using an Ultrawideband real-time location system with an accuracy of 20cm at 1Hz, and compared with their cognitive status as measured by the Mini Mental State Exam. Two patients evidenced significant linear trends in angle-turn and path-efficiency with the maximum variability captured by angle-turn (14.7% and 11.7%). Both subjects were later found to have very low MMSE value (6 and 9 respectively).