# Electronic Financial Indicators of Neurodegenerative Disease

> **NIH NIH R21** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $234,610

## Abstract

Project Summary
Financial capacity describes the ability to make and carry out sound financial decisions sufficient to meet an
individual's needs for health and well-being. Impairments in financial capacity have been shown to be one of
the earliest functional changes in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the precursor to Alzheimer's
disease and related dementias. In addition, impairments in financial capacity put older adults at risk of abuse or
exploitation. The demographic projections of increases in the number of older adults in the U.S. and around the
world, together with the age-related risk of cognitive impairment from neurodegenerative diseases such as
Alzheimer's, promise that these at-risk populations will continue to grow.
Identifying changes in older adults' financial capacity could provide a means to screen for incipient cognitive
impairment, implement therapeutic programs, and protect financial well-being. Older adults as well as health
care professionals need an objective, unobtrusive, disinterested and secure method to monitor financial, and
by extension, cognitive integrity. Recent developments using online automated monitoring of financial
transactions promise a new way to identify the earliest signs of cognitive decline. The overarching premise of
this proposal is that automated monitoring will facilitate the early identification of decline in financial capacity
which will in turn advance inter-related medical and public health missions of screening for cognitive decline
and prevention of potentially harmful outcomes in at risk older adults.
The objectives of this study are 1) to determine the feasibility of monitoring online financial activity and related
behaviors in older adults with MCI or normal cognition, 2) To determine the association between cognition and
patterns of behavior established during financial activity monitoring in older adults with MCI or normal
cognition, and 3) to explore (for future research) the longitudinal (12 month) association between patterns of
behavior established during financial activity monitoring and changes in cognition. Baseline financial activity
will be determined from a period of 90 days preceding study initiation. Changes in financial activity will be
tracked and correlated with cognitive status in a sample of older adults to determine the relationship between
early changes in an important but complex functional activity and standard tests of cognition.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9902291
- **Project number:** 5R21AG062679-02
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** katherine wild
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $234,610
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2021-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9902291

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9902291, Electronic Financial Indicators of Neurodegenerative Disease (5R21AG062679-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9902291. Licensed CC0.

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