- Health oversight agencies anticipate that, during the next decade, a growing number of people living into old age will increase the need for caregiver services for patients with a decline in cognitive function and an increase in confusion
- California-based MetAlert is a pioneer in developing wearable, unobtrusive technology that helps caregivers track the whereabouts of patients with cognitive decline and who may be prone to becoming lost if they wander
- The company is also preparing to roll out an expansion of its flagship product that will have the capacity to serve as a tech hub for its product as well as other wearable health monitoring devices with which it can communicate to collect their data for medical services
- Such devices can help eliminate the need for patients to routinely visit medical offices to monitor their health data, where they may risk exposure to other people who may endanger their health, as was made clear during the height of the COVID pandemic
Last fall, the newest report on age and health of the World Health Organization (“WHO”) stated that the number of people aged 60 years and older outnumbered children younger than 5 years in 2020 and projected that between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years will nearly double from 12 percent to 22 percent (https://nnw.fm/t6yCI).
The growth of the population of people entering into old age, and the rising ratio of older populations to younger caregiving generations, has taken on new importance for societies working to manage attendant costs and other concerns.
Wearable tracking and health monitoring device developer MetAlert (OTC: MLRT) has developed its flagship technology as an accessible solution for those dealing with one area of concern — declining cognitive capability and the potential for harmful or even deadly confusion.
The Alzheimer’s Association, in a lengthy special report providing data for 2022, notes that subtle cognitive changes, such as those in memory and thinking, are often a feature of aging, and about 12 to 18 percent of people age 60 or older are currently living with mild cognitive impairment (“MCI”). These changes may be noticeable enough for a patient, family members, and friends to become aware of, but are not severe enough to hinder everyday functioning.
One in four individuals age 80 to 84 experience symptoms of MCI, according to the report, and while MCI is distinct from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, sometimes MCI occurs as a result of the biological changes related to Alzheimer’s. The majority of MCI patients continue with no further cognitive decline or can at times revert to normal cognition, but studies estimate 10 to 15 percent of individuals with MCI due to disease rather than normal aging go on to develop dementia each year, and about one-third of them develop dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease within five years, according to the report.
“A growing number of studies indicate that the prevalence and incidence of Alzheimer’s and other dementias in the United States and other higher income Western countries may have declined in the past 25 years,” the report states (https://nnw.fm/iTWVM). “(But) the total number of people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias in the United States and other high-income Western countries is expected to continue to increase dramatically because of the increase in the number of people at the oldest ages.” That is to say that, although a person’s risk of dementia at any given age may be decreasing slightly in some countries, due to better early addressing of risk factors, the total number of people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias in the United States and other high-income Western countries is expected to continue to increase dramatically because of the growing number of people at the oldest ages.
MetAlert’s pioneering GPS-enabled SmartSole shoe inserts make it possible for caregivers to track the movements of cognitive decline patients who are prone to wander and potentially become lost, using a technology that is easy to wear and unobtrusive.
This year, the company is rolling out a –Plus model that will expand the SmartSole’s capacity to interact with other medical monitoring devices, and serve as a health tech hub that collects data from those devices to share with caregivers and medical professionals.
“During COVID, we realized that a lot of our end users have more than just the ailments that we help them with in terms of a cognitive disorder,” MetAlert CEO Patrick Bertagna said in an interview broadcast recently on the company’s YouTube channel (https://nnw.fm/vFoOU). “A lot of children with autism also have epilepsy or asthma; a lot of seniors also have diabetes or other ailments.”
When COVID was extremely virulent and a vaccine wasn’t available, a trip to the doctor’s office for a checkup ran the risk of exposing patients to further harm from infection by other patients, Bertagna said, and a measure of that risk may continue to exist today.
“We needed to find out in real time how people are doing, not how they were doing three months ago when they were in the doctor’s office, and … getting them to the doctor’s office was a challenge because of external factors that they had no control over,” he said. “So if we could bring the doctor to them, in essence, through telehealth, telemedicine and by collecting a whole bunch of vital information … and doing it in real time … it would just tremendously facilitate how the caregivers are responsible for their loved ones.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.MetAlert.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to MLRT are available in the company’s newsroom at https://nnw.fm/MLRT
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