Technology and Dementia: The Future is Now

Abstract

Background: Technology has multiple potential applications to dementia from diagnosis and assessment to care delivery and supporting ageing in place.

Objectives: To summarise key areas of technology development in dementia and identify future directions and implications.

Method: Members of the US Alzheimer's Association Technology Professional Interest Area involved in delivering the annual pre-conference summarised existing knowledge on current and future technology developments in dementia.

Results: The main domains of technology development are as follows: (i) diagnosis, assessment and monitoring, (ii) maintenance of functioning, (iii) leisure and activity, (iv) caregiving and management.

Conclusions: The pace of technology development requires urgent policy, funding and practice change, away from a narrow medical approach, to a holistic model that facilitates future risk reduction and prevention strategies, enables earlier detection and supports implementation at scale for a meaningful and fulfilling life with dementia.

Keywords: Aging; Big data; Dementia; Policy; Technology.