Digital fingerprint of driving patterns identified as a potential predictor of Alzheimer’s

Calgary, AB – As drivers steering our way through each day we make hundreds of tiny navigational decisions. When do we turn and in which direction? What are the best roads to take to get to where we’re going most directly and effectively? For most of us, these decisions are made subconsciously. But research shows that in in the very earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, years before symptoms such as decline in memory surface, people may start navigating differently on the roads without realizing it. 

Building on this knowledge, the University of Calgary’s Healthy City Lab in the Schulich School of Engineering has developed a “route complexity metric” to measure these subtle navigational changes. This new metric is derived through real-world sensor data collected from older adults as they go about their daily driving routines. Using this data, the research team can create a “digital fingerprint” of an individual’s navigational style as they drive through their daily environment. 

“Even though we rarely think about it this way, driving is a very complex activity,” says Dr. Sayeh Bayat, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical and geomatics engineering, director of the Healthy City Lab, and a Schulich Research Chair. “When you’re driving, you’re constantly making decisions. Where to turn, how to respond to traffic, how to get where you’re going. All that draws on different parts of the brain and some routes are more demanding than others. If there are lots of turns, or if you’re taking a route that’s different from what you’re used to, it requires more planning, attention, and spatial awareness.” 

“Analyzing driving patterns can tell us a lot. Changes in how someone navigates can give us early insight into cognitive health, long before more obvious symptoms appear.”  

Dr. Sayeh Bayat, PD, assistant professor, Schulich School of Engineering, Schulich Research Chair, Director, Healthy City Lab 

The research, published in the journal IEEE Xplore, was led by Kelly Long, a UCalgary graduate student in biomedical engineering, and co-authored with Bayat and Dr. Ganesh Babulal, PhD, an associate professor of neurology at the Washington University School of Medicine. 

The study used passive sensor monitoring technology installed in cars to collect driving data from 111 adults between the ages of 65-85, some of whom had biomarker-confirmed preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, in which changes in the brain are present even though symptoms have yet to arise. Their driving patterns were compared with participants without preclinical Alzheimer’s. 

“We discovered that people with preclinical Alzheimer’s shifted towards simpler, more direct routes as they got older, whereas cognitively healthy adults did not make this shift. This suggests that even before memory decline sets in, early Alzheimer’s may influence how people plan or execute everyday navigation.” 

Kelly Long, biomedical engineering, study co-author 

Subtle driving changes that often go unnoticed by families reveal themselves in the continuous real-world data collected by the sensors. “Alzheimer’s disease is difficult to detect early, and current diagnostic tools rely heavily on imaging tests like PET scans, and invasive procedures such as spinal taps,” says Bayat. “What we’re looking at instead is everyday behaviour. Something as familiar as how a person drives or the routes they choose can reflect changes in cognitive function. Our route complexity metric lets us measure those changes without asking people to do anything extra.” 

From a cognitive health standpoint, the potential of the driving metric and the digital fingerprint it provides could make a huge impact. “This type of digital biomarker could one day complement traditional clinical tests to help flag cognitive changes before the symptoms of Alzheimer’s arise,” says Bayat. “It can support more informed clinical decisions, enable earlier and more personalized interventions, and track changes over time.” 

January is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. In light of this, on Saturday, Jan. 31 the Healthy City Lab team will be at the Alzheimer’s Calgary Talking About Dementia education sessions sharing their ongoing efforts in dementia research. The sessions will be held from 10 AM to 12 PM at the DoubleTree by Hilton Calgary. Register at alzheimercalgary.ca

Sayeh Bayat is an assistant professor in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Geomatics Engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering. She is also a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the Cumming School of Medicine. 

Media inquiries

Heath McCoy 
Senior Communications Specialist 
University of Calgary
 Ph: 403-607-8461
 hjmccoy@ucalgary.ca

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