Birkeland Current presented preliminary results at the 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America.
Abstract: This paper presents preliminary correlation analysis results between the Birkeland Current Sovrin IoT in-home sensing system and monthly ADCS-ADL survey data for 117 CareRecipient/CareGiver (CR/CG) pairs as part of a Phase II NIA SBIR study (R44AG065118) conducted from 2021 to 2023. The analysis provides correlation analysis between overall BC ADL Scores and ADCS/ADL Scores as well as comparisons to two-factor IADL/BADL scores and to the four-factor Kahle-Wrobleski ADL scores (W1-W4). The CR population was screened to represent mild to mid-level cognitive decline utilizing the MMSE tool with the expectation that most of the change in ADL scores would be based on IADL groupings. Utilizing percent change from monthly ADL survey scores and associated subscores, the BC system demonstrates significant correlation with the ADCS-ADL score at the level of sensitivity of the ADCS survey and subfactor results. For modest change, the BC system shows significant sensitivity to two factor IADL change (10-20%) with the two-factor BADL sensitivity dominating for 30-40% change. The BC system shows little or no sensitivity to the W3 (communications and engagement) and W4 (outside activities) scores as these are items not directly measurable by the BC system. The correlation with the W2 (Household Activities) provides the highest subfactor correlation at low change levels and most closely represents the BC system approach which is dominated by household activity measures. Utilizing the correlation approach, the BC system is able to demonstrate sensitivity to a single point change in the two factor BADL score and a one-point change in the two factor IADL score which matches the consensus sensitivity of the ADL survey. All data presented is statistically significant at an alpha value of 0.05.