Monitoring cognitive health using the BrainWaveBank platform, v1.1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of in-home monitoring using the BrainWaveBank platform for people with Mild Cognitive Impairment
IRAS ID
242294
Contact name
Brian Murphy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
BrainWaveBank Ltd
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 3 days
Research summary
The number of people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases is rapidly rising. It is projected that by 2050 130 million people worldwide will be affected by dementia, at a total cost of care of >£1 trillion/annum. Within the UK today, the Alzheimer’s Society reports 850,000 individuals are living with dementia. Earlier diagnosis leading to more timely intervention would transform the disease course and impact on the cost of care, extending independence and improving quality of life for people with dementia and their carers.
Medical research is currently limited by the fact that the diseases underlying dementia can be undetected but active in the brain for 10 or more years before symptoms become clear. Drugs are being developed to work early enough to change the course of the disease, but again clinical trials have trouble identifying people with the earliest form of these diseases.
This research project combines latest scientific research and new technologies from industry to develop a novel approach for in-home tracking of cognitive well-being, and of lifestyle choices that may affect it. This has potential for the large scale risk-identification and screening at the earliest stages of diseases like Alzheimer's.
The system use cheap portable 'brainwave' technology (electroencephalography or EEG) with cognitive games played on a tablet. EEG has long been used as a diagnostic and research tool in clinics and universities and is an efficient and noninvasive method of capturing a person’s neural activity. The system has already been tested with a large group of older people who are cognitively healthy, and with the current project we aim to assess how well it works at identifying those with specific memory problems that clinicians take as an indicator of being at risk of future dementia.REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
18/NI/0093
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion