Daily HRV assesment evaluated by remote control in dementia

Introduction.The use of technology as a support and medical attention to different types of diseasesis now a common feature in several research projects conducted at European and national level. Diseases such as Alzheimer’s or stroke, considered among the leading causes of disability are at the center of these projects. Aim. The aim of this study has been to evaluate the ability to monitor the daily autonomic assessment in patients with dementia by means the HRV analysis of ECG signal recorded with a new device: the «Pulse» that is a wearable electronic device for the acquisition, recording and transmission of physiological parameters to external devices. Materials and Methods. We studied 36 patients (17 F and 19 M, 73,9 ± 8,9 years). At the patients we installed a «Pulse» for a week. From the pulse we can obtain a record for 5-minute each hour in which the ECG, breath frequency, body position and activity level are reported. Results. With these preliminary data we obtained 3 important results: first, in all the patients enrolled we did not observe any change of electrical conduction on the ECG signals. Second the cardiovascular variability is very low in all period considered. In fact the principal indexes of the HRV showed a reduction. Finally, in each period considered the both linear in the frequency domain and non linear indexes of the sympathetic activity, showed a marked increase specially during the night period. Conclusion. The proposed system can help the physician and the caregiver in the control of these patients with dementia. The wireless connection allowed various of device application and several monitoring arrangements ranging from real-time monitoring to long-term recording of biological signals. Implementation of this model may facilitate both accessibility and availability of personalized monitor and therapy. Further studies would validate it in the clinical and healthcare environment.