TOKYO: Efforts are underway in Japan to develop artificial intelligence-based tools that will help detect dementia at an early stage, including one that analyzes how people walk.

Those tools are expected to lower risks of elderly people failing to notice that they have the condition and see a doctor early or roaming around, easing concerns of those people and their families.

Since February, Ridgelinez Ltd., a Fujitsu Ltd. unit that offers consulting services, has been working with the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center and AI startup Noel Inc. to develop a system that will detect characteristics seen in the way people with dementia walk.

Using AI-based posture recognition technology adopted in Fujitsu’s judging support system for artistic gymnastics competitions, the tool will find signs of dementia like small steps from video footage taken at cameras in public facilities, allowing people around those with such symptoms to talk to them about the possible problem.

The three entities involved in the development of the tool will work on information management rules for privacy protection and conduct analysis in cooperation with nursing care facilities, to put it into practical use in fiscal 2027.

The health ministry’s estimates show that about 11.97 million people, which is the equivalent of about one in three aged 65 or older, will have dementia or mild cognitive impairment, a stage before the condition, in Japan in 2040, when the elderly population is expected to reach peak levels.

“Everyone can have dementia,” Ridgelinez director Takanori Kawashima said. “We want to create a system to keep a protective eye on people as they live daily lives, not one to restrict or monitor their activities,” he said.

AI tools that can help people check their risks of dementia are closer to practical use.

Eisai Co., which developed dementia drug lecanemab jointly with U.S. partner Biogen Inc., has started developing an AI tool that will predict risks of deterioration in cognitive functions based on people’s answers to questions about their life.

The company plans to make the tool available via smartphones in fiscal 2024, which ends next March, in order to help people see the doctor early and review their daily habits.

A DeNA Co. subsidiary provides local governments with a smartphone app in which AI discerns changes in cognitive functions based on orally given answers to questions on topics such as dates.

JIJI Press