# Detecting respiratory distress in nursing home patients with advanced ADRD using radio sensors

> **NIH NIH R21** · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · 2024 · $451,721

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Overview: The proposal aims to advance the science of geriatric palliative care by assessing the feasibility and
acceptability of implementing radio frequency (RF) sensors to capture cardiopulmonary measures in nursing
home (NH) patients with Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD) and using machine learning to
help predict when a patient may be experiencing an episode of respiratory distress.
Background: In NH patients with advanced ADRD, respiratory distress is common and can occur in up to 80%
of patients. Respiratory distress can lead to negative patient outcomes such as increased suffering, poor quality
of life, and unwanted care transitions. Given that ADRD
approximately
patients make up 48% of all NH residents, with
60% of those having moderate to severe cognitive impairment,it is critical that we find ways to
better identify and detect respiratory distress in this vulnerable patient population.
Research plan: The proposal aims to (1) assess the feasibility and acceptability of implementing RF sensors to
capture cardiopulmonary waveforms in NH patients with advanced ADRD and (2) develop a machine learning
algorithm that will autonomously detect and predict respiratory distress using collected cardiopulmonary
recordings. Furthermore, interviews will be conducted with NH staff and legal authorized representatives of
patients with dementia to gain insight into the potential use and challenges of implementing RF sensors to help
in the detection and prediction of respiratory distress in patients with advanced ADRD.
Environment: The study team is a distinguished group with expertise in geriatrics, palliative medicine,
pulmonary medicine, and biosensor technology/artificial intelligence. By combining the resources at Weill
Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, Archcare, the proposal has the potential to lead to advances in how
respiratory distress is monitored and detected in NH patients with ADRD, with the goal of reducing patient
suffering and burdensome care transitions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10810933
- **Project number:** 1R21AG081902-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** Veerawat Phongtankuel
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $451,721
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-27 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10810933

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10810933, Detecting respiratory distress in nursing home patients with advanced ADRD using radio sensors (1R21AG081902-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10810933. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*