The digital explosion and advances in technology initially targeted the younger population, leaving a rapidly growing population of adults and older adults on the sidelines. Remarkably, the realization that the older population has great economic potential as active users of technology has created a growing interest in developing user-friendly technologies. Advances in technological solutions for health care may augment patients' clinical outcomes and promote independence, especially for those with neurological disorders, sensory impairment, and disability. Technology can play a pivotal role in supporting the diagnosis, management, and rehabilitation of a growing population of older people in need of geriatric care.
‘AgeTech’ is an umbrella term currently used for describing the adoption of advanced technologies such as ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), robotics, mobile devices, artificial intelligence, environmental systems, and the Internet of Things (IoT), capable of enhancing the engineering use of computational thinking to bring benefits to older people by providing health practitioners with new technologies with the final aim of maintaining active aging as long as possible.
The COVID-19 pandemic revolutionized this field. The public health necessity to provide the population with updated information, instructions, and guidelines regarding precautions, immunizations, and treatment, was translated into digital platforms and widely distributed by social media. A focus was placed on older people, who were at greater risk for comorbidities and complications due to frailty. The implementation of lockdowns and isolation limited access to health care, and telehealth and virtual health programs became widespread. Although this approach blossomed due to the needs of a pandemic, we believe that digital health and virtual health care, particularly for frail older people, are certainly here to stay, and that they will continue to develop in the next future.
This Research Topic aims to provide a multidimensional overview of research devoted to the diagnosis, assessment, and rehabilitation with a special interest in technology products and services that are useful for the health care of older adults. In this Research Topic, we offer researchers an exciting opportunity to share new ideas and advances pertaining to all aspects of digital health for older adults. We encourage the submission of manuscripts such as original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, systematic reviews, clinical trials, case reports, perspectives, opinions, and study protocols relevant to this article collection that will cover (but not limited to) the following topics:
• Digital technologies to promote healthy aging
• Clinical trials using technological devices for aged inpatients/outpatients with and without neurological diseases
• Cutting-edge strategies to improve the cognitive and physical health of seniors living in the community
• Innovative rehabilitation techniques, such as smartphone/tablet applications for older people or combined treatment for patients with sensorimotor impairment and/or cognitive impairment
• New insights for the assessment of specific pathology or comparison of conventional rehabilitation techniques vs. technology-assisted techniques
• Technological solutions for the administration of cognitive/psychodiagnostic tests in adults and older adults
• Technologies for health monitoring of older people
• The use of technologies in preventing and identifying falls and other geriatric syndromes
• The virtual clinic for the older population
• Age-friendly digital technology in health and disease
The digital explosion and advances in technology initially targeted the younger population, leaving a rapidly growing population of adults and older adults on the sidelines. Remarkably, the realization that the older population has great economic potential as active users of technology has created a growing interest in developing user-friendly technologies. Advances in technological solutions for health care may augment patients' clinical outcomes and promote independence, especially for those with neurological disorders, sensory impairment, and disability. Technology can play a pivotal role in supporting the diagnosis, management, and rehabilitation of a growing population of older people in need of geriatric care.
‘AgeTech’ is an umbrella term currently used for describing the adoption of advanced technologies such as ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), robotics, mobile devices, artificial intelligence, environmental systems, and the Internet of Things (IoT), capable of enhancing the engineering use of computational thinking to bring benefits to older people by providing health practitioners with new technologies with the final aim of maintaining active aging as long as possible.
The COVID-19 pandemic revolutionized this field. The public health necessity to provide the population with updated information, instructions, and guidelines regarding precautions, immunizations, and treatment, was translated into digital platforms and widely distributed by social media. A focus was placed on older people, who were at greater risk for comorbidities and complications due to frailty. The implementation of lockdowns and isolation limited access to health care, and telehealth and virtual health programs became widespread. Although this approach blossomed due to the needs of a pandemic, we believe that digital health and virtual health care, particularly for frail older people, are certainly here to stay, and that they will continue to develop in the next future.
This Research Topic aims to provide a multidimensional overview of research devoted to the diagnosis, assessment, and rehabilitation with a special interest in technology products and services that are useful for the health care of older adults. In this Research Topic, we offer researchers an exciting opportunity to share new ideas and advances pertaining to all aspects of digital health for older adults. We encourage the submission of manuscripts such as original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, systematic reviews, clinical trials, case reports, perspectives, opinions, and study protocols relevant to this article collection that will cover (but not limited to) the following topics:
• Digital technologies to promote healthy aging
• Clinical trials using technological devices for aged inpatients/outpatients with and without neurological diseases
• Cutting-edge strategies to improve the cognitive and physical health of seniors living in the community
• Innovative rehabilitation techniques, such as smartphone/tablet applications for older people or combined treatment for patients with sensorimotor impairment and/or cognitive impairment
• New insights for the assessment of specific pathology or comparison of conventional rehabilitation techniques vs. technology-assisted techniques
• Technological solutions for the administration of cognitive/psychodiagnostic tests in adults and older adults
• Technologies for health monitoring of older people
• The use of technologies in preventing and identifying falls and other geriatric syndromes
• The virtual clinic for the older population
• Age-friendly digital technology in health and disease
