Headband described as a ‘Fitbit for the brain’, worn while you sleep, detects Alzheimer’s disease BEFORE symptoms start, scientists claim

Scientists have invented a headband that they claim can detect signs of Alzheimer’s disease while the wearer sleeps.

The device – called ‘a Fitbit for the brain’ – contains small sensors that monitor brain waves.

It is programmed to pick up on changes in the part of the brain responsible for memory reactivation, which is controlled by several proteins.

Researchers got more than 200 patients in their 70s to wear the headband six nights a week for two years in the first study of its kind that could lead to low-cost wearable EEG devices that monitor brain health, detect preclinical AD and monitor response to treatment .

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, degenerative brain disease in which the buildup of abnormal proteins causes nerve cells to die.

This disrupts the transmitters that transmit messages and causes the brain to shrink.

More than 5 million people suffer from the disease in the US, the sixth leading cause of death nationwide.

The headband was invented by scientists at the Anschutz Medical Campus of the University of Colorado and Washington University in St. Louis, who discovered a method to evaluate brain activity during sleep, linked to the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, which develops often manifests long before the symptoms of dementia appear.

Brice McConnell, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and senior author of the study, said: ‘This digital biomarker essentially enables any simple EEG headband device to be used as a fitness tracker for brain health.

Researchers analyzed data from 205 older adults and identified measurable problems with memory reactivation associated with levels of proteins such as amyloid and tau that accumulate in Alzheimer’s disease. Pictured is the lead scientist, Brice McConnell

“Demonstrating how we can assess digital biomarkers for early indications of disease using accessible and scalable headband devices in a home environment is a huge advancement in detecting and mitigating Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages.”

All participants were cognitively unimpaired, very mildly cognitively impaired, except for one participant who was mildly cognitively impaired.

The team hypothesized that the headband might find potential biomarker properties related to memory reactivation during sleep.

These biomarkers include theta bursts (TB) that improve depression, sleep spindles (SP) associated with non-rapid eye movements, and slow waves (SW), the deepest level of sleep that can last up to 40 minutes during each period.

Researchers believe there are changes in the ‘linkage’ of these events may point to the early pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).’

The team used the headband to map the neural circuits of SW-TB and SW-SP that link precision to amyloid positivity, cognitive impairment and cerebrospinal fluid (shock absorber to the brain) biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.

The headband sits comfortably on the head, allowing the wearer to sleep with it

Previous research has shown that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the accumulation of amyloid beta protein in the brain, leading to neuronal toxicity in the central nervous system.

After the data collection, researchers determined that cognitive impairment correlated with lower TB concentration in SW-TB linkage.

And those who were cognitively unimpeded showed lower precision on the SW-TB and SW-SP pairing.

“What we found is that these abnormal protein levels are related to sleep memory reactivations, which we were able to identify in people’s brain wave patterns before they experienced symptoms,” says McConnell.

“Identifying these early biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease in asymptomatic adults may help patients develop preventive or mitigating strategies before the disease progresses.”

Researchers also believe this is an exciting step toward using wearables as digital biomarkers for disease detection.

“We’re just getting started with this work, paving the way for affordable and easy-to-use devices to monitor brain health,” says McConnell.

“This is proof of the principle that brain waves during sleep can be converted into a digital biomarker, and our next steps include perfecting the process.”