Table 3.
Summary of 6 studies that included data from dedicated or purposive ICTa-monitoring solutions, such as phone-based automated interviews, Nintendo Wii, and virtual reality (Group 3).
| First author (year), country | Technology description | Study description: design; number and type of subjects (number living aloneb, if relevant) and setting; duration | Cognitive status and number of participants; age; number of male and/or female participants | Main results |
| Mundt (2007), United States [33] | Use of IVRc technology (ie, pressing keys) to administer simple cognitive evaluations by phone during a 20-minute, computer-automated telephone call | Observational comparative study; 107 community-dwelling participants; 24 weeks: IVR administered at home at weeks 4, 12, and 20 | 36 cognitively normal, (MMSEd=28.1), 37 MCIe (MMSE=25.6), 34 mild dementia (MMSE=20.0); mean age 76.7 years; 42% female | The automated administration of IVR simple cognitive tests via phone calls reliably and validly discriminated cognitive functioning among normal, MCI, and mild dementia. |
| Allard (2014), France [34] | Monitoring of behavior, semantic memory performance, and daily life experiences using a personal digital assistant five times a day | Observational study; 60 older adults; 7 days | 60 healthy participants (mean MMSE=27.0); mean age 75.1 years; 45% female | Magnetic resonance imagery markers were significantly associated with mobile assessments of semantic memory performance. |
| Brown (2016), United Kingdom [35] | Touch screen system to assess multiple domains of health and behavior; cognitive tasks scheduled once per day | Observational study; 40 community-dwelling adults; three periods of approximately 7 days | 40 healthy participants (mean MMSE=28.63); mean age 72 years; 24 females, 16 males | Convergent validity with, and similar levels of, reliability to the standard cognitive battery. |
| Seelye (2016), United States [36] | Completion of a short 12-item weekly online questionnaire of health and life events, administered on desktop computers | Observational study; 83 independent, community-dwelling older adults; 1 year | 59 healthy (MMSE=28.8), 24 MCI (MMSE=27.4); mean age 86.2 and 87.9 years, respectively; 88% and 75% female, respectively | Online questionnaire performance significantly correlated to cognitive test. MCI participants submitted their questionnaires progressively later in the day and they needed greater assistance from staff as compared with intact participants. |
| Zygouris (2017), Greece [37] | Tablet personal computer with software enabling the self-administration of a cognitive assessment through virtual reality | Comparative, two-arm, observational study; 12 elderly living at home; 1-month follow-up | 6 healthy and 6 MCI; mean 64 years; 3 males, 9 females | Performances to complete the given exercise differed significantly between healthy and MCI groups, yielding a correct classification rate of 92% for MCI detection. |
| Leach (2018), United States [38] | A Nintendo Wii balance board used to quantify postural sway twice daily, under a single-task condition and under a dual-task condition, using a daily word-search task administered via a Nook tablet | Observational study; 20 healthy community-dwelling elderly; 30 days | Mean MMSE=28.6; mean age 87.0 years; 65% females | Linear relationships were observed between the day-to-day variability in postural sway and cognitive status. |
aICT: information and communication technologies.
bThe number of participants living alone is specified when the information is relevant; for example, for ambient sensors but not for wearables devices.
cIVR: interactive voice response.
dMMSE: Mini Mental State Examination.
eMCI: mild cognitive impairment.