Technological approach for early and unobtrusive detection of possible health changes toward more effective treatment

Abstract

Aging process is related to serious decline in physical and cognitive functions. Thus, early detection of these health changes is important to improve classical assessments that are mainly based on interviews, and are insufficient to early diagnose all possible health changes. Therefore, we propose a technological approach that analyzes elderly people behavior on a daily basis, employs unobtrusive monitoring technologies, and applies statistical techniques to identify continuous changes in monitored behavior. We detect significant long-term changes that are highly related to physical and cognitive problems. We also present a real validation through data collected from 3-year deployments in nursing-home rooms.