Reasearch about Alzheimer's dementia has proved in various ways the importance of early diagnosis. Indeed, treatment before the onset of significant symptoms could in the future be effective against the disease.
However, screening the general public is currently difficult: the methods used are invasive and costly and therefore do not allow everyone to be tested, even though 20% of people over 70 are at risk.
As part of the MIND-IT project, we are working on a non-invasive method to find these people. How can we do this? By analysing the history of electronic conversations. By automatically analysing these conversations, we can detect a decline in language level, which may be one of the first signs of the disease.
To develop this technology, we are looking for patients with Alzheimer's disease, as well as participants who do not suffer from the disease.
This project is supported by the Alzheimer Foundation. The project promoters are Bernard Hanseeuw and Louise-Amélie Cougnon. The project also has an associate promoter: Cédrick Fairon.