Association between upper limb movements during drumming and cognition in older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia at a nursing home: a pilot study

Atsuko Miyazaki; Yuichi Ito; Takashi Okuyama; Hayato Mori; Kazuhisa Sato; Masahiko Ichiki; Atsushi Hiyama; Jerome Dinet; Rui Nouchi

doi:10.3389/fresc.2023.1079781

Association between upper limb movements during drumming and cognition in older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia at a nursing home: a pilot study

Front Rehabil Sci. 2023 May 25:4:1079781. doi: 10.3389/fresc.2023.1079781. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Atsuko Miyazaki^{1

2}, Yuichi Ito³, Takashi Okuyama^{1

4}, Hayato Mori⁵, Kazuhisa Sato⁶, Masahiko Ichiki⁷, Atsushi Hiyama^{1

8}, Jerome Dinet⁹, Rui Nouchi^{10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Information Somatics Laboratory, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
² Computational Engineering Applications Unit, Head Office for Information Systems and Cybersecurity, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan.
³ Moff Inc., Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Department of Public Health, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan.
⁵ Super Reha, LLC., Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Care 21 Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan.
⁷ Student and Staff Health Support Center, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Center for the Promotion of Social Data Science Education and Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁹ 2LPN (Laboratoire Lorrain de Psychologie et Neurosciences de la Dynamique des Comportements), Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France.
¹⁰ Department of Cognitive Health Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
¹¹ Smart Aging Research Center, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

Abstract

Background: Despite the association between motor dysfunction and dementia, quantitative assessment of dementia-related specific motor dysfunction in patients with severe dementia is difficult. Thus, this study aimed to develop a new method to measure upper limb motor function in people with dementia.

Methods: We examined the relationship between dementia severity and dementia-related specific motor dysfunction using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a dementia screening test. Participants comprised 16 nursing home residents with a mean age of 86 years and MMSE score of 14.56 (range, 1-23) Points. Participants were seated in a circle and instructed to play a drum that was placed in their lap using mallets (drumsticks) in their dominant hand. Acceleration and gyroscopic sensors were attached to their wrists to collect data on arm movements while drumming. Upper limb motor characteristics were confirmed by recording acceleration and arm movement during drumming and analyzing the correlation with handgrip strength.

Results: Handgrip strength was correlated with arm elevation angle during drumming. The arm elevation angle displayed a significant regression equation with the MMSE score and showed the best regression equation along with handgrip strength (adjusted R² = 0.6035, p = 0.0009).

Conclusion: We developed a new method using drums to measure upper limb motor function in people with dementia. We also verified that the average arm elevation angle during drumming could predict cognitive dysfunction. This system may be used to monitor people with dementia in a simple and safe way.

Keywords: acceleration sensors; drum; gyro sensors; upper limb motor function; upper limb range of motion.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (grant no. 16K15363).