GPS specialist, GTX Corp., and footwear manufacturer, Aetrex, have teamed up to develop a shoe with tiny embedded GPS tracking devices that will make keeping up with Alzheimer’s disease patients much easier, bringing safety to the patient and peace of mind to his or her caregivers.  The shoe is still in the development stage but it may hit the market as early as next year.

George Mason University professor Andrew Carle says as many as 60% of all Alzheimer’s patients get lost at one point or another.  As a rule, the lost patient will not ask for help or accept assistance.  If not found within 24 hours, almost half these lost patients face death.  The GPS shoe project has enlisted Carle as an advisor based on his expertise in aging and assistive technologies.  He says technology offers many ways to improve quality of life for older adults and that technologies based on microchips, such as the GPS shoe, represent a market estimated to be worth about $5 billion.

Other technologies are currently available although the majority of them haven’t met with much success.  Electronic wristbands and ankle brackets, for example, are often too bulky to be comfortable.  The GPS shoe is being specifically designed to keep it unobtrusive.

The GPS shoe will not replace the need for consistent, high quality care, a concern raised by the United Kingdom’s Alzheimer’s Society.  Informed consent and patient privacy are other concerns mentioned by a society representative.

It won’t come cheap, either.  Patrick Bertagna, chief executive officer for GTX, predicts the retail price for the shoe will be between $200 and $300.  An additional $20 per month will allow caregivers to subscribe to a GPS tracking service that sends an alert whenever the shoe, and, presumably, its wearer, leaves a pre-determined area.  It will also give caretakers the chance to go online to see where the shoe is at any given moment.

There are at least 26 million Alzheimer’s disease patients in the world today but researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health predict that number will rise to more than 106 million as soon as 2050.