Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Aging
Date Submitted: Oct 26, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Oct 27, 2018 - Nov 5, 2018
Date Accepted: Feb 1, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
BrainCheck: a rapid, mobile neurocognitive screening test to aid in identifying cognitive impairment and dementia
ABSTRACT
Background:
The U.S. population over the age of 65 is expected to double by the year 2050. Concordantly, the incidence of dementia is projected to increase. The subclinical stage of dementia begins years before signs and symptoms appear. Early detection of cognitive impairment and/or cognitive decline may allow for interventions to slow its progression. Furthermore, early detection may allow for implementation of care plans that may affect the quality of life of those affected and their caregivers
Objective:
We sought to determine the accuracy and validity of BrainCheck Memory as a diagnostic aid for age-related cognitive impairment, as compared against other commonly used neurocognitive screening tests -the SLUMS test, the MMSE, and the MoCA - and against physician diagnosis.
Methods:
We tested 583 volunteers over the age of 49 from various community centers and living facilities in Houston, TX. The volunteers were divided into five cohorts: a normative population, and four comparison groups for SLUMS, MMSE, MoCA, and physician diagnosis. Each comparison group completed their respective assessment and BrainCheck Memory.
Results:
398 subjects were included in the normative population. 84 participants were in the SLUMS cohort, 51 in the MMSE cohort, 35 in the MoCA cohort, and 18 in the physician cohort. BrainCheck Memory assessments were significantly correlated to the SLUMS, with coefficients ranging from 0.5 to 0.7. Correlation coefficients for the MMSE and BrainCheck and the MoCA and BrainCheck were also significant. Of the 18 subjects evaluated by a physician, nine were healthy, six were moderately impaired, and three were severely impaired. A significant difference was found between the severely/moderately impaired and the healthy (p=.02). We derived a BrainCheck Memory composite score that showed stronger correlations with the standard assessments as compared to the individual BrainCheck assessments. ROC curve analysis of this composite score found a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 94%.
Conclusions:
BrainCheck Memory provides a sensitive and specific metric for age-related cognitive impairment in older adults, with the advantages of a mobile, digital, and easy-to-use test. Clinical Trial: Video Games to Track Cognitive Health. Clinical Trials.gov identifier: NCT03608722. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03608722?term=braincheck&rank=1
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.