may a SenseCam, a portable automatic camera that captures everyday images, help delay the clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the most common form of dementia?
A study carried out by a team of researchers from the Universities of Coimbra (UC) and Leeds (UK), between 2011 and 2016, entitled “Memory stimulation in early stage Alzheimer's disease. the role of SenseCam in cognitive functioning and well-being”, he says yes and recommends the use of this method as a complement to the pharmacological treatment of the disease.
Based on previous studies where it is shown that image visualization stimulates the areas of the brain responsible for autobiographical memories (medial temporal lobe – hippocampus and parahippocampal areas), the first to deteriorate in Alzheimer's Disease, the researchers wanted to study the effectiveness of use of SenseCam, as a cognitive stimulation tool, in the initial stage of the disease.
In the first phase of the project, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and led by researchers from the Faculties of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPCEUC) and Science and Technology (FCTUC, Department of Computer Engineering) at UC, the team conducted a pilot study with a group of 29 healthy young and old (15 young and 14 elderly) to explore the effects of SenseCam in tests of global cognition and to analyze to what extent this instrument could be useful for patients with AD.
Having identified the potential of the method in global cognitive functioning, the researchers then moved on to the main study with 51 elderly people, mostly women, diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease at an early stage, followed by the Psychiatry (gerontoppsychiatry consultation) and Neurology services. Coimbra Hospital and University Center (CHUC) and also at the Alzheimer Portugal Association.
The elderly, aged between 60 and 80 years old, were divided into three groups and subjected to different cognitive stimulation strategies for six weeks: one group was intervened with the use of SenseCam which captured everyday images experienced by the patients, another with an active conventional training (exercises such as memorizing shopping lists, associating faces-names, etc.) and the third group recorded their daily life in a diary.
At the end of the six weeks, the researchers noted that the intervention based on SenseCam «it was more effective in cognitive performance compared to the active cognitive training program and the written diary», says Ana Rita Silva, principal investigator of the study, whose results have already been accepted for publication in the international journal. Current Alzheimer Research.
Research has also shown that this method of passive help, as it does not involve effort or motivation on the part of the patient (just place the camera around the neck), «increases the patient's general well-being and decreases the depressive symptoms that affect about 40% of patients with early-stage Alzheimer's. After six weeks of intervention, the group that used the SenseCam it was the one that showed the greatest reduction in depressive symptoms», observes the researcher from the UC.
The conclusions of this study, which resulted in Ana Rita Silva's Doctoral Thesis, «reinforce the importance of developing non-pharmacological interventions for patients with AD at an early stage» because, defends the researcher, «although the first line of action in this disease , after the diagnosis, or the pharmacological treatment, there is a growing consensus regarding the urgency of complementing this action with the implementation of non-pharmacological interventions, in order to reduce the impact of the disease».
Author: Cristina Pinto (Press Office – University of Coimbra)
Science in the Regional Press – Ciência Viva
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