Clinical Manifestations

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Gerontology
• Public Health

Background:

• Dementia presents a significant public health challenge in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly impacting Arabic-speaking populations.
• Cognitive healthcare disparities exist for Arabic-speaking individuals in Israel due to a lack of culturally and linguistically adapted assessments.
• Brief, non-language-dependent cognitive measures are needed to bridge this gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the concurrent validity and discrimination accuracy of the Arabic version of the Tablet-based Cognitive Assessment Tool Brain Health Assessment (TabCAT-BHA).
• To assess the TabCAT-BHA's utility in detecting cognitive impairment among Arabic-speaking older adults in Israel.

Main Methods:

• 57 older adults with cognitive impairment (MCI or dementia) and 39 cognitively normal individuals completed the Arabic TabCAT-BHA.
• Cognitively impaired participants also completed standard paper-and-pencil tests for verbal memory, visual memory, visuospatial skills, and processing speed.
• Logistic regressions, ROC curves, and Pearson's correlations were used to assess discrimination accuracy and concurrent validity, adjusting for age, sex, and education.

Main Results:

• The TabCAT-BHA demonstrated excellent discrimination accuracy (AUC = 0.97, sensitivity = 0.93, specificity = 0.79) in detecting cognitive impairment.
• Strong correlations were found between specific TabCAT-BHA subtests and corresponding standard cognitive tests (e.g., Birdwatch with visual memory, Favorites with verbal memory).
• The Match subtest showed moderate associations with all examined cognitive domains, reflecting the role of executive functions.

Conclusions:

• The Arabic TabCAT-BHA is a valid and efficient tool for identifying cognitive impairment in Arabic-speaking Israelis.
• The findings support the use of TabCAT-BHA to address cognitive healthcare disparities in this population.
• Future research will focus on refining norms and confirming its utility for early disease detection in Mild Cognitive Impairment.