Digital toolbox may help diagnose dementia earlier
Detection of subtle differences in cognitive behaviors may help delay,
prevent the onset

Date:
March 8, 2022
Source:
Boston University School of Medicine
Summary:
Detecting cognitive changes early in the onset of dementia would
be a game-changer for thousands impacted by the disease and would
allow for interventions well before significant brain changes
occur. While cognitive function is often measured using paper
and pencil tests with scores calculated by the number of correct
answers, this number (score) omits a lot of information about
the process a person uses to answer a question that might reveal
important information about their brain function.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Detecting cognitive changes early in the onset of dementia would be a
game- changer for thousands impacted by the disease and would allow for interventions well before significant brain changes occur.


========================================================================== While cognitive function is often measured using paper and pencil tests
with scores calculated by the number of correct answers, this number
(score) omits a lot of information about the process a person uses to
answer a question that might reveal important information about their
brain function.

In a new study from Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and
Public Health (BUSPH), participants were tested using a digital pen that recorded the entire process of completing the cognitive test and allowed
the researchers to pick up subtle measures of cognitive function beyond
what is captured in traditional scoring.

"Rather than just being able to say that someone performed poorly on a cognitive test, these digital metrics allow us to delve further into the specific cognitive and physical functions that may be underlying poor
test performance for a specific individual," said corresponding author
Mandy (Mengtian) Du, PhD, a former graduate student at BUSPH.

Participants were asked to connect a series of dots spread out across
a page in sequential numerical order (1, 2, 3, etc.) or to alternate
between numbers and letters (such as 1, A, 2, B, and so on) while using
a digital pen which records the movement of the pen across specialized
paper and allows for a time-stamped playback of the entire drawing
process. The researchers used the digital pen data to derive measures
of drawing time, meaning the amount of time that the pen was used to
draw on the paper and thinking time, or the time that the pen was held stationary and the participant was planning their next move.

According to the researchers, the digital pen data also allowed them to quantify the number of segments or straight lines that the participant
used to complete the connections between the dots. They then looked
at how these novel digital metrics were associated with other tests of cognitive and physical function. They found that the digital metrics were associated with specific cognitive functions such as processing speed,
auditory attention, learning and working memory and physical functions
such as walking speed and grip strength.

"We use our brains to carry out all of the activities in our daily
lives. With digital technologies, such as digital pens or even our smart
phones and activity trackers, we have the ability to record high-precision
data on our cognitive behaviors every day," added coauthor Stacy Andersen,
PhD, assistant professor of medicine at BUSM.

The researchers hope they will eventually be able to take what they have learned about early, subtle digital markers of cognitive impairment and
assess cognitive health through the technologies that are used every day.

These findings appear online in the journalAlzheimer's & Dementia:
Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, a journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute on Aging (K01AG057798 to S.L.A., 5U19AG063893 5U01AG023749 to S.C., 5U01AG023755
to T.T.P., 5U01AG023712, 5U01AG023744, 5U01AG023746); and the Marty and Paulette Samowitz Foundation to T.T.P.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Boston_University_School_of_Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Mengtian Du, Stacy L. Andersen, Stephanie Cosentino, Robert
M. Boudreau,
Thomas T. Perls, Paola Sebastiani. Digitally generated Trail Making
Test data: Analysis using hidden Markov modeling. Alzheimer's &
Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, 2022; 14
(1) DOI: 10.1002/ dad2.12292 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220308102738.htm

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