A Computerized Testing System for Screening Dementia in Community-based Settings

We have developed a computerized testing system for screening dementia in community-based settings. The system was assembled with a touch-panel display and computer devices unified into one case. This made the hardware a very compact, light and easy to carry unit. Two test programs were implemented in the system, one for primary screening and the other for close examination. The primary screening program, which was intended to screen persons who are suspected of having dementia in community-based settings, consisted of 4 test tasks. The close examination program was designed to diagnose the dementia and was composed of 10 test tasks. Throughout the whole process, users were guided not only by text prompts but also by voice instructions. In the test process, the system presents questions by text, figures and/or voice. Then the system shows the choice icons on the computer display and requires the subject to touch the correct icon. By this method, even aged persons could easily operate the system. Results of the primary screening program yielded maximum sensitivity and specificity values of 96% and 86% for the total score, respectively. By applying this system to community-based settings, we have detected 55 persons as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 74 persons as suspicious of suffering from dementia out of 998 elderly

[1]  Benoit Mulsant,et al.  Detection and Management of Cognitive Impairment in Primary Care: The Steel Valley Seniors Survey , 2004, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[2]  J. Schneider,et al.  Neuropathology of older persons without cognitive impairment from two community-based studies , 2006, Neurology.

[3]  R Letz,et al.  Development of a computer-based battery designed to screen adults for neuropsychological impairment. , 1996, Neurotoxicology and teratology.

[4]  K. Krishnan,et al.  The Alzheimer's disease assessment scale , 1997, Neurology.

[5]  D. Knopman.  Current treatment of mild cognitive impairment and alzheimer’s disease , 2006, Current neurology and neuroscience reports.

[6]  S. Kato,et al.  Development of the revised version of Hasegawa's Dementia Scale (HDS-R) , 1991 .

[7]  R. Ownby,et al.  The Effect of a Memory Screening Program on the Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease , 2005, Alzheimer disease and associated disorders.

[8]  Bridget Kelly,et al.  A 7 minute neurocognitive screening battery highly sensitive to Alzheimer's disease. , 1998, Archives of neurology.

[9]  W F Stewart,et al.  Screening for dementia with the Memory Impairment Screen , 1999, Neurology.

[10]  J. Ashford,et al.  Designing a Brief Alzheimer Screen (BAS). , 2003, Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD.

[11]  J. Cummings,et al.  Evaluating dementia screening tests , 1999, Neurology.

[12]  K. Shulman.  Clock‐drawing: is it the ideal cognitive screening test? , 2000, International journal of geriatric psychiatry.