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This leaves invasive methods like spinal taps or expensive methods like PET scans. These approaches cannot be used to screen large groups of people. Bayat said, “It’s not everywhere.” “They’re not very accessible or scalable.”

But a GPS device in someone’s car could provide digital biomarkers to monitor driving behavior almost continuously at low cost. “Studies have shown that there are changes in driving in people with symptomatic Alzheimer’s,” said Ms. Bayat. “But some changes happen even sooner.”

NS University of Washington study It enrolled 64 older adults with preclinical Alzheimer’s, 75 of which were determined by spinal taps (results were not shared with participants) and were considered cognitively normal.

Over the course of one year, the researchers analyzed both groups’ driving performance – how often they accelerated and braked aggressively, how often they exceeded or dropped below the speed limit, made sudden movements – and their “driving areas” (number of trips, average distance, unique destinations, night trips). “But now that we have these technologies, can we do this type of research,” said Mrs. Bayat.

The study found that driving behavior and age can predict 88 percent of preclinical Alzheimer’s. These findings could spur hiring for clinical trials and allow for interventions — such as an alert when a car is drifting — to help drivers stay on track. In areas with poor public transport (which is most), it can increase the independence of the elderly.

Geriatrician and co-director of the Penn Memory Center, Dr. Jason Karlawish described the work as “provocative” and well-designed. “The results show that tracking a real-world, cognitively intense behavior can detect the earliest, subtle signs of emerging cognitive impairment,” he said in an email.

Similarly, a study analyzing medical records and consumer credit reports It showed that for more than 80,000 Medicare beneficiaries, seniors who were eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease were significantly more likely to have delayed credit card payments than those who were demographically similar but never received such diagnoses. They were also more likely to have subprime credit scores.