An Objective Assessment Tool for Evaluating Functioning in Older Adults (SPPB++)

The Investigators are seeking your consent to participate in research investigating the development of a mobile application that enhances physical and cognitive assessments.

This is in response to the growing significance of the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) research. The SPPB has proven its value in evaluating lower extremity function and mobility in older adults, providing predictive insights into declines in daily living activities, falls, hospitalization, disability, and mortality.

Recognizing the need for accessible and automated assessment tools, this project endeavors to design a mobile app with multi-fold functionality. The final version will guide users through SPPB tests, offer real-time performance scoring, and facilitate frequent, objective, and accurate physical and cognitive assessments. This is particularly critical for monitoring the progression of ADRD, identifying subtle physical changes indicative of cognitive decline, and enabling timely interventions tailored to patients' evolving needs.

Our goal is to collect video data from 20 to 30 participants 18+ years of age who are considered healthy with no severe mobility issues to perform the SPPB. The video data will be used to develop a prototype of the SPPB application and validate testing in the lab. The video recording will be automatically encrypted and securely uploaded to Stanford privacy protected computer servers to test and refine the application results.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Alzheimer Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: SPPB++ Application

Detailed Description

In response to the growing significance of the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) research, this project aims to create a mobile application that enhances physical and cognitive assessments. The SPPB has proven its value in evaluating lower extremity function and mobility in older adults, providing predictive insights into declines in daily living activities, falls, hospitalization, disability, and mortality. Moreover, recent research has revealed the potential of SPPB in detecting cognitive decline through gait and hand movement analysis at various stages of AD and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Recognizing the need for accessible and automated assessment tools, this project endeavors to design a mobile app with multi-fold functionality. It will guide users through SPPB tests, offer real-time performance scoring, and facilitate frequent, objective, and accurate physical and cognitive assessments. This is particularly critical for monitoring the progression of ADRD, identifying subtle physical changes indicative of cognitive decline, and enabling timely interventions tailored to patients' evolving needs.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 30

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94304
      • Clinical Excellence Research Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Healthy Adults

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult (18+)
• proficient in English
• consider themselves healthy
• Ability to participate in a meeting for consenting and video data collection on Stanford campus

Exclusion Criteria:

• We will exclude participant that do not consent to video data collection
• Under the age of 18
• limited physical mobility.

We have no exclusions on the basis of gender or ethnic background.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
develop an automated analysis of the SPPB clinical tests	Novel Biomarker Types: In this study, we propose to leverage video data to develop an automated analysis of the SPPB clinical tests, the same way that MRI data can automatically be analyzed. This will remove the need for subjective evaluation and lead to universally acceptable disease (digital) biomarkers from the video data, helping the clinicians. The video-based biomarkers will serve as quantifiable identifiers singling out specific subtype(s). Such digital biomarkers [9-19,21] and especially video [20] are transforming the development of drugs. Video, as a rich source of data, can provide novel information yet to be explored.	1 year
large-scale data collection to continuously collect data for understanding NPS disease trajectories	Novel Methodologies: Processing unconstrained video data collected in clinical settings with limited data points calls for new technologies. Although we use recent video recognition technologies (including those developed by us recently), applying them to clinical data and training new machine learning models poses unique challenges requiring novel methods. In addition, implementing this on mobile phones will facilitate the platforms required for large-scale data collection to continuously collect data for understanding disease trajectories.	1 year
SPPB++ mobile phone app	Impact: We will implement our novel algorithms in a mobile phone app, making the tests accessible and affordable to many individuals. This will enable large-scale data collection and clinical trials. The analysis of this data will identify novel biomarkers using video-based SPPB tests. The longitudinal assessment of these tests will provide a means for tracking cognitive functioning and convergence to MCI, AD, or other dementia.	1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Stanford University
• Collaborators: University of Massachusetts, Worcester
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ehsan Adeli, PhD, Stanford University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 30, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 28, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 28, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): July 8, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 29, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 23, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Alzheimer's Disease; Mild Cognitive Impairment
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Dementia; Tauopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Cognitive Dysfunction; Alzheimer Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: 74617

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No