The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Clinical Trials with Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders

In the last decades, many promising disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been proposed. However, clinical trials conducted on the treatments’ efficacy have not lead to any important breakthroughs. There is a growing consensus that this can, at least partially, be explained by methodological difficulties, including the inclusion of participants who are already in the later stages of the disease progression, and the selection of outcome measures – such as dementia conversion rate – which are not sensitive enough (Aisen et al., 2011). Most of the current assessment tools have been accused to be artificial and to lack ecological validity (Robert et al., 2013). Furthermore, test results can show variability depending on many factors, such as the patient’s emotional state, and may therefore not always fully reflect a patient’s capacities and the complexity of the disease, leading to delayed diagnosis (Sampaio, 2007). Based on the Monaco CTAD expert meeting in 2012, Robert et al. (2013) highlighted that new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) – such as video and audio analysis techniques, computerized testing and actigraphy – may represent promising new tools to improve the functional and cognitive assessment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related disorders [see also Konig et al. (2014), for a recent review of studies employing ICT in this domain]. However, these new technologies are still not widely employed in clinical trials for assessment purposes. In November 2014, the association Innovation Alzheimer organized a workshop with stakeholders in the field (e.g., psychiatrist, neurologists, geriatricians, psychologists, researchers, engineers, and patients) with the aim of gathering recommendations for the use of ICT in the different stages of clinical trials. These recommendations are available online on the website of the Association Innovation Alzheimer1. Based on these recommendations, in the present opinion paper, we will highlight how ICT may be employed in clinical trials involving patients with AD and related disorders to improve patient’s assessment and the admissibility to participate in clinical trials.