Home-Based Assessment of Cognition and Health Measures: The Collaborative Aging Research Using Technology (CART) Initiative and International Collaborations

Home-based sensor platforms offer novel methods to evaluate individuals with cognitive impairment. Having high-frequency information on changes in health status, activity, and functioning in real-life settings could improve our ability to assess and provide care to these individuals. The insidious onset, slow progression, and day-to-day variability seen in neurodegenerative disorders make them ideal candidates for continuous forms of assessment. There have been significant advances in technologies related to the monitoring of health and well-being through pervasive computing, wearable technologies, wireless and mobile technologies, and high dimensional data analytics. High-frequency assessment with digital technologies has been demonstrated to provide earlier and more sensitive detection of changes in health, cognition, and function, with the potential to improve person-specific diagnosis, prevention, and treatment enabled by health care professionals.