Assessing Cognitive Decline at Home

Automatic Assessment of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms at Home Predictive of Mental Health and Cognitive Disorders Using Non-Intrusive Ambient Intelligence Technologies

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) refer to a range of mental and emotional issues that can be observed through how patients move, perform daily tasks, and express feelings on their faces. In this study, the investigators want to find ways to accurately and unobtrusively track these symptoms in people's homes over time. Our goals are to note when these symptoms happen, predict potential problems, and gather clear data to help doctors make accurate diagnoses.

To do this, the investigators will first collect information from participants who have in-home sensors. the investigators will then use special computer programs that can recognize everyday activities and identify features that connect to scores from the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C). These scores will be compared to a questionnaire (NPIQ) filled out by caregivers or family members, along with any relevant information from doctors about the patients' symptoms. The investigators aim to see how these features can help differentiate between types of NPS, such as mood changes and agitation.

Finally, the investigators will create a dashboard for doctors that summarizes the patterns of these symptoms in patients, making it easier to monitor and manage their mental health.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Dementia; Mild Cognitive Impairment; Memory Impairment; Dementia Alzheimers; Mild Dementia; NPS

Detailed Description

What the investigators would need from participants:

• Collect the participants' own data of daily activities from a room in participants home such as the participant's living room via a small camera the investigators provide for no less than 7 days and up to 30 days. The participant will have full control over the camera to turn on and off.
• The participant and a loved one will regularly answer short surveys asking about the participant's mood and daily functioning.
• At the end of agreed observation period, return the memory card of the participant's collected data from the camera in person or pre-paid FedEx envelope.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 25

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: Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Older Adults - 65+

Description

Inclusion criteria:

• Age 65+ years old
• Any age and ethnicity.
• With or without, or at risk of mild to moderate dementia and healthy controls.
• Availability of a study partner (informant) who has contact with the patient at least once a week (this can also be the surrogate/LAR but does not necessarily have to be)

Exclusion criteria:

• Those with severe mobility impairments
• participants in non-home settings (skilled nursing facilities, etc.).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
develop a personalized and clinically interpretable NPS assessment system	Assessing NPS relies primarily on clinician observation & interviews with caregivers, usually within brief & infrequent clinical visits. Precise assessment and monitoring methods would incorporate objective, patient- & caregiver-friendly, real-time tools and provide reliable & frequently captured data. We aim to create a system that can monitoring individual and subsyndromes of NPS; and detect early changes in NPS by automatically quantifying & detecting relevant behavioral abnormalities based on both intra- & inter-individual comparisons. Our approach is a video sensor, information processing, & alert system that utilizes in-home cameras & ambient sensors with video features that can recognize & track behaviors securely, pre-defines domains involved in a behavior; personalizes the results by assessing the individual's behavioral norms and the home environment; and analyzes, learns, and provides explainable items from different modalities of data: time, location, video, and audio.	2 year
NPS Clinical Dashboard	Overall, the investigators envision the clinical dashboard as a transformative tool that delivers clear and comprehensive data on each individual. Therefore enhancing the quality of diagnosis of NPS for individuals, leading to better patient interventions and more effective long term management strategies.	1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
generate Data and support for a large-scale study or clinical trial within the context of an R01.	the ultimate goal of this project is to generate feasibility data and infrastructure for a large-scale study with a possible clinical trial within the context of an R01. In parallel, to translate the technology into clinical practice, we will work with the Stanford Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) to productize the outcomes.	2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Stanford University
• Collaborators: Johns Hopkins University; University of Rochester
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ehsan Adeli, PhD, Stanford University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Gould CE, Davis CH, Schuz N, Lin FV, Samus QM, Terada T, Daniel M, Tee S, Adeli E. Designing AI-Enabled Video Monitoring Clinician Dashboard for Neuropsychiatric Symptoms: A Survey of User Needs. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry Open Sci Educ Pract. 2026 Mar;9:46-51. doi: 10.1016/j.osep.2026.01.001. Epub 2026 Feb 8.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 21, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 21, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): November 26, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 18, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 14, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Tauopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Cognitive Dysfunction; Alzheimer Disease; Dementia; Memory Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 68794

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No