What is it about?
We hoped that monitoring skin conductance would help caregivers to anticipate an outburst of combative behavior. Although this hope was not realized, we did find a common response of the nervous system that occurred both in provoked and unprovoked outbursts.
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Why is it important?
There may be a similar response in patients that have what are called "psychogenic non-epileptic seizures," which are spells that appear to be seizures but are not accompanied by seizure activity as detected by electroencephalography (EEG). If confirmed, this would suggest that there are nervous system responses that are common to conditions that seem unrelated (dementia and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures) and would create a framework for connecting these apparently different conditions.
Perspectives
Wearable devices that measure several physiologic features can contribute significantly to medical knowledge. They enable a standard method of data collection to be applied across a wide range of conditions and lead to unique medical insights.
Frank Greco
VAMC Bedford
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Is There a Characteristic Autonomic Response During Outbursts of Combative Behavior in Dementia Patients?, Journal of Alzheimer s Disease Reports, May 2021, IOS Press,
DOI: 10.3233/adr-210007.
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