ECOCAPTURE@HOME: Protocol for the Remote Assessment of Apathy and Its Everyday-Life Consequences

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 15; p. 7824
• Main Authors: Godefroy, Valérie, Levy, Richard, Bouzigues, Arabella, Rametti-Lacroux, Armelle, Migliaccio, Raffaella, Batrancourt, Bénédicte
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 23.07.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer's disease; Apathy; Arousal; Behavior; Bioengineering; Blood volume; Caregivers; Communications technology; Dementia; Dementia disorders; Disease; Emotional behavior; Frontotemporal dementia; Human health and pathology; Humans; Life Sciences; Neurons and Cognition; New technology; Observational Studies as Topic; Patients; Psychiatrics and mental health; Quality of Life; Remote monitoring; Study Protocol; Surveys and Questionnaires; Telemedicine; Tissues and Organs; acceleration; sensors; Alzheimer disease; patient-caregiver dyads; fronto-temporal dementia; electrodermal activity; remote monitoring; apathy; blood volume pulse
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18157824

Apathy, a common neuropsychiatric symptom associated with dementia, has a strong impact on patients' and caregivers' quality of life. However, it is still poorly understood and hard to define. The main objective of the ECOCAPTURE programme is to define a behavioural signature of apathy using an ecological approach. Within this program, ECOCAPTURE@HOME is an observational study which aims to validate a method based on new technologies for the remote monitoring of apathy in real life. For this study, we plan to recruit 60 couples: 20 patient-caregiver dyads in which patients suffer from behavioral variant Fronto-Temporal Dementia, 20 patient-caregiver dyads in which patients suffer from Alzheimer Disease and 20 healthy control couples. These dyads will be followed for 28 consecutive days via multi-sensor bracelets collecting passive data (acceleration, electrodermal activity, blood volume pulse). Active data will also be collected by questionnaires on a smartphone application. Using a pool of metrics extracted from these passive and active data, we will validate a measurement model for three behavioural markers of apathy (i.e., daytime activity, quality of sleep, and emotional arousal). The final purpose is to facilitate the follow-up and precise diagnosis of apathy, towards a personalised treatment of this condition within everyday life.