A mobile application for cognitive screening of dementia

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Gerontology
• Medical Technology

Background:

• Early detection of dementia is crucial for timely intervention and management.
• Traditional neuropsychological assessments can be time-consuming and inaccessible.
• Mobile health (mHealth) offers a potential solution for accessible cognitive screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a mobile cognitive screening (MCS) test battery for early dementia detection.
• To assess the effectiveness of the MCS battery in differentiating between healthy elderly individuals and those diagnosed with dementia.
• To compare the performance of the MCS battery with a validated paper-and-pencil test (Montreal Cognitive Test - MoCA).

Main Methods:

• A mobile application was developed for Android devices, comprising 33 questions across 8 cognitive domains.
• The MCS battery was administered to 23 elderly participants (9 healthy, 14 with dementia).
• The Montreal Cognitive Test (MoCA) was used as a comparative measure.

Main Results:

• The MCS battery significantly differentiated between healthy and dementia groups in executive, visual, memory, attention, and orientation functions (p<0.05).
• No significant differences were found for arithmetic, abstraction, or language functions.
• A moderate correlation (r²=0.57) was observed between MCS and MoCA scores.

Conclusions:

• The mobile cognitive screening (MCS) battery demonstrates potential as a valid tool for early dementia detection.
• The app effectively screens key cognitive domains, showing promise for widespread use in elderly populations.
• Further research is warranted to refine the assessment of language, abstraction, and arithmetic functions within the MCS framework.