Researchers at the University of Vermont in Burlington developed a wearable tool that could help detect undiagnosed anxiety and depression in young children.
Six things to know:
1. The wearable tool uses a sensor to screen children for a set of conditions known as "internalizing disorders," in which symptoms are inward-facing. The wearable tool is based on the idea that children with internalizing disorders, such as depression and anxiety, move differently than those without these conditions.
2. To test the tool, the researchers enrolled 63 children — some of whom had already been diagnosed with an internalizing disorder — to participate in a "mood induction task," which is designed to elicit specific feelings, such as anxiety. During the task, children were led into a dimly lit room, while a facilitator said statements such as "Let's be quiet so it doesn't wake up" before uncovering a fake snake. After the task, children were reassured by the facilitator and allowed to play with the snake.
3. During the task, children wore a motion sensor that monitored their movements. The researchers then fed this data into a machine-learning algorithm, which identified key differences between the way children with anxiety or depression moved, compared to those without either of these conditions.
4. The researchers found the algorithm detected which children had an internalizing disorder with 81 percent accuracy, according to study results published in PLOS ONE. Movement during the anticipation phase of the attack — before the snake was revealed — was the most useful, as children with internalizing disorders tended to turn away from the potential threat.
5. The algorithm, which only needed 20 seconds of data from the anticipation phase to make its decision, could help with early detection, according to the researchers. Early detection is particularly important for anxiety disorders, since children's brains tend to respond well to treatment. Anxiety disorders that are detected later in life have been linked with an increased risk of substance abuse and suicide.
6. The researchers' goal is to develop a set of assessments for schools and physicians' offices to use to screen children as part of routine developmental assessments.
"Because of the scale of the problem, this begs for a screening technology to identify kids early enough so they can be directed to the care they need," Ryan McGinnis, PhD, a lead author on the study and biomedical engineer at the University of Vermont, said in a news release.