Study Reveals Dementia Patients Benefit from GPS Tracking

2 Apr 2013

GPS tracking research conducted by Trygge Spor, a publically Norwegian funded research study evaluating technology to track dementia sufferers, and Dag Ausen, project manager ofSINTEF, may soon help improve the safety of dementia patients. The study surveyed more than 50 people suffering from dementia for several weeks to a year.The results reveal that GPS tracking provides dementia patients with greater freedom, security, and quality of life while giving their families greater peace of mind.

Prevalence of Dementia

There were approximately 35.6 million people around the world living with dementia in 2010, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International. Those numbers are expected to double every 20 years for an estimated 65.7 million people with dementia by 2030, and then again to 115.4 million in the year 2050. In Norway, there are about 70,000 dementia sufferers. Norwegian nursing homes have approximately 80 percent of dementia patients.

Part of the reason behind these staggering increases involves the fact that people are living longer lives than ever before.  By 2050, people over the age of 60 will account for nearly 22 percent of the worldwide population. As the population for that age bracket increases, so does the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Dementia occurs mostly with older individuals. It is a brain condition affecting memory, judgment, behavior, thinking and language. Symptoms of dementia include forgetfulness, problems with language and memory, perception issues and unusual emotional and personality behaviors. The earliest signs of dementia include becoming lost on familiar routes, trouble remembering names and not being able to perform basic tasks like balancing a checkbook.

Families of people living with dementia face many fears. One of the biggest, however, is that their loved ones will wander off, become lost or confused, and as a result, unable to find the way home.

A Potential Solution

It is this common fear that has spurred action by researchers at SINTEFF, Scandinavia’s largest research organization, to devise GPS applications to help track dementia sufferers, whether they are living in private homes, institutions, or retirement communities.

The study conducted by SINTEF and several municipalities came after disheartening observations of issues with the current localization technologies and alarms used by nursing homes and home care services who care for dementia sufferers. During the study, their motive was to use GPS trackers to monitor location and movements of patients with dementia.

“Our aim has been to develop GPS systems with component sensors and support systems as a means of monitoring the movements of dementia sufferers,” Ausen told reporters. “It’s a major step forward to record that these 50 users can now demonstrate the effects and benefits over time.”

GPS technology will not only benefit the researchers and nursing homes that implement the systems, but the sufferers as well. People with dementia will have more freedom and be able to go out on their own, as there is less worry of where they go and the possibility of becoming confused or lose.

“Patients who have used a GPS (tracking system) experience more freedom and increased quality of life,” said Health Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. “For patients, nurses and families, much uncertainty is removed,” he said.

Researchers in Norway are currently working on improving the notifications and alerts sent from GPS to the dementia sufferer’s caregivers if they go past a certain distance. Once these improvements are made, the GPS is expected to be released in Norway first and then in other areas of the world.

Currently the system would benefit a select few dementia sufferers at relatively early stages of their diagnosis and the progression of the illness. The ultimately goal is to develop a system that would allow wider benefits for people at all stages of dementia progression.


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