Developing a passive, non-worn, system to detect falls at home among the elderly.

描述(申请人提供)：跌倒是美国老年人受伤死亡的主要原因，2020年美国每年将损失430亿美元。特别令人担忧的是所谓的“长期谎言”。超过一半的跌倒的老年人在没有帮助的情况下无法站起来，他们更有可能遭受更多的并发症和更差的预后。研究人员此前开发了一种被动跌倒和活动检测系统(PFADS)，用于熟练的护理设施和其他机构。该项目建议收集初步数据，以确定是否可以设计出类似的设备在家庭中工作，从而使老年人能够更安全地独立生活，并向他们的照顾者保证，如果发生跌倒，将立即召唤帮助。我们的愿景是创造一个像烟雾探测器一样值得信赖和无处不在的系统--一个显然非常有价值的系统，没有人会考虑没有一个。因此，就像烟雾探测器一样，该系统必须足够简单，以便老年人或他们的照顾者安装和使用；不需要复杂的特殊设备或技术技能(如使用互联网连接)，也不要求老年人穿任何特殊的衣服、按任何按钮或以任何方式改变他们的生活方式。该系统将对宠物、爬行的孙子或躺在床上等引起的错误警报具有高度免疫力。即使老人故意趴在地板上寻找掉落的物品，它也不会报警。最后，该系统绝对必须足够便宜，才能广泛使用。PFADS的基本工作原理是在房间的各个水平“切片”中检测体温，然后实时分析这些数据，以识别特定的“跌倒信号”。从本质上讲，这个想法是为了寻找人体大小的红外线能量发射体，这些辐射体迅速向地面加速。这一基本概念已被测试并被证明在熟练护理人员中有效；然而，机构版由专业人员安装，有一个中央站对其进行监控，并部署在物理布局几乎相同的房间。该团队将与来自马萨诸塞州综合医院的资深老年学家Katherine Hesse博士合作，定义住宅环境的要求，然后收集初步数据，以确定重新设计的PFADS是否可以满足住宅应用的要求。具体地说，目标1是在目前机构版的PFADS中增加网状无线电和数据记录能力，以便能够在实验室/住宅环境中收集实验数据。目标2是收集这些数据以支持AIM，即改进跌倒检测算法，以最大限度地提高其在住宅环境中的敏感度和特异度，并确定它是否满足目标1中定义的要求。 与公共健康相关：在美国，每年约有180万老年人因跌倒而需要去急诊科就诊；其中1.5万人将死亡。老年人等待接受援助的时间越长，他们死亡的可能性就越大--如果他们在72小时内没有得到帮助，67%的人会死亡，但如果他们在一小时内得到帮助，只有12%的人会死亡。这项研究的目标是创建一种可靠、廉价、易于使用的被动跌倒检测 家庭中使用的系统；该系统不会要求老年人穿任何衣服、按任何按钮或以任何方式改变他们的生活方式，但如果老年人摔倒在地，它会立即呼救。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Falls are the leading cause of injury death among elders in the United States and will cost the country $43B annually in 2020. Of particular concern is what is called the "long lie." Over one half of elders who fall are unable to get up without assistance and they are more likely to suffer additional complications and poorer prognoses. The investigators have previously developed a passive fall and activity detection system (PFADS) for use in skilled nursing facilities and other institutions. This project proposes to gather preliminary data to determine if a similar device can be designed to work in homes, thus allowing elders to live independently more safely and their caregivers to be reassured that if a fall occur help will immediately be summoned. The vision is to create a system that is as trustworthy and ubiquitous as a smoke detector - a system that is clearly so valuable that no person would ever consider being without one. Thus, like a smoke detector, the system must be simple enough to be installed and used by the elder or their caregiver; not require complex special equipment or technical skill (such as using an internet connection), and not require the elder to wear anything special, push any buttons or change their lifestyle in any way. The system will be highly immune to false alarms caused by pets, crawling grandchildren, laying down in bed, etc. It will not alarm even if the elder purposely gets down on the floor to search fo a dropped item. Finally, the system absolutely must be inexpensive enough to be broadly available. The basic principle of operation of the PFADS is to detect body heat in various horizontal "slices" of the room, then analyze this data in real-time to identify specific "fall signatures". Essentially the idea is to look for human- size emitters of infrared energy that rapidly accelerate toward the floor. This basic concept has been tested and shown to be effective in skilled nursing faculties; however, the institutional version is installed by professionals, has a central station monitoring it and is deployed in rooms with nearly identical physical layouts. The team will work with Dr. Katherine Hesse, an accomplished Gerontologist from Massachusetts General Hospital, to define the requirements for residential settings and then gather preliminary data to determine if a redesigned PFADS can meet the requirements of a residential application. Specifically, Aim 1 is to add a meshing radio and data logging capability to the current institution version of the PFADS to allow experimental data to be gathered in a laboratory/residential setting. Aim 2 is to gather this data in order to support Aim , which is to refine the fall detection algorithm to maximize it sensitivity and specificity in the residential setting and determine if it meets the requirements defined in Aim 1. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Approximately 1.8 million senior citizens need to visit the emergency department in the US each year due to falls; 15,000 of these people will die. The longer the elder has to wait to receive aid, the greater the chance of their death - 67% die if the don't receive help within 72 hours, but only 12% die if they get help within an hour. This objective of this research is to create a reliable, inexpensive, easy-to-use passive fall detection system for use in homes; the system will not require the elder to wear anything, push any buttons or change their life style in any way, yet it will immediately call for help if the elder flls down.