Home › Research › Clinical safety
Monitoring night‐time safety in households with dementia using ambient sensing technologies: a rule‐based decision algorithm
Alina‐Irina Serban, Sophie Horrocks, Chloe Walsh, Matthew Harrison, Eyal Soreq, Amer Marzuki, Mark Woodbridge, Ramin Nilforooshan et al.. Alzheimer s & Dementia, 2025-12-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Validation was conducted across 94 households over 365 nights, totalling 297,297 monitoring hours. At least one night-time safety alert was triggered in 33 households, while no abnormal events were recorded in 61 households. Two hundred alerts were generated across 142 nights, with an average time outside 2 hours and 40 minutes per event. Of these alerts, 91.2% were validated as night-time going out events, with 14.9% representing routine activities. This study demonstrates the algorithm's effectiveness in timely, accurate night-time safety monitoring. Implementing it has the potential to enhance safety and reduce caregiver burden for PLwD in clinical and home care settings.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Serban, A., Horrocks, S., Walsh, C., Harrison, M., Soreq, E., Marzuki, A., et al. (2025). Monitoring night‐time safety in households with dementia using ambient sensing technologies: a rule‐based decision algorithm. Alzheimer s & Dementia. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz70863_110614
Vancouver
Serban A, Horrocks S, Walsh C, Harrison M, Soreq E, Marzuki A, et al. Monitoring night‐time safety in households with dementia using ambient sensing technologies: a rule‐based decision algorithm. Alzheimer s & Dementia. 2025. doi:10.1002/alz70863_110614. PMID: 41433268.
BibTeX
@article{serban2025-41433268,
author = {Serban, Alina‐Irina and Horrocks, Sophie and Walsh, Chloe and Harrison, Matthew and Soreq, Eyal and Marzuki, Amer and Woodbridge, Mark and Nilforooshan, Ramin and others},
title = {{Monitoring night‐time safety in households with dementia using ambient sensing technologies: a rule‐based decision algorithm}},
journal = {Alzheimer s \& Dementia},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1002/alz70863_110614},
pmid = {41433268},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/alz70863_110614}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Validation was conducted across 94 households over 365 nights, totalling 297,297 monitoring hours.
- At least one night-time safety alert was triggered in 33 households, while no abnormal events were recorded in 61 households.
- Two hundred alerts were generated across 142 nights, with an average time outside 2 hours and 40 minutes per event.
- Of these alerts, 91.2% were validated as night-time going out events, with 14.9% representing routine activities.
- This study demonstrates the algorithm's effectiveness in timely, accurate night-time safety monitoring.
Why it matters
This study tested a rule-based algorithm using ambient sensors to monitor night-time safety in households with dementia, and most alerts were validated as night-time going out events. It addresses safety monitoring and caregiver burden rather than treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Effect size91.2%; 14.9%
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 38/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Alzheimer s & Dementia) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Alzheimer s & Dementia: journal h-index 228 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 1 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 1 / 6 | Cited 0.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 1 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author David Sharp: h-index 86 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | Imperial College London: institution h-index 1,744 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 41433268) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 38 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1002/alz70863_110614
- PubMed: 41433268
- Original source →
- Free full text: Alzheimer s & Dementia →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Related studies in Clinical safety
Also tagged “prevalence”
1,224 studies in the library carry the topic tag “prevalence”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 1,224 tagged studies.