Open AccessUnsupervised mobile cognitive testing for use in preclinical Alzheimer's disease
Author(s) -
Papp Kathryn V.,
Samaroo Aubryn,
Chou HsiangChin,
Buckley Rachel,
Schneider Olivia R.,
Hsieh Stephanie,
Soberanes Daniel,
Quiroz Yakeel,
Properzi Michael,
Schultz Aaron,
GarcíaMagariño Iván,
Marshall Gad A.,
Burke Jane G.,
Kumar Raya,
Snyder Noah,
Johnson Keith,
Rentz Dorene M.,
Sperling Reisa A.,
Amariglio Rebecca E.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia: diagnosis, assessment and disease monitoring
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.497
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2352-8729
DOI - 10.1002/dad2.12243
Subject(s) - cognition , cognitive test , dementia , neurocognitive , psychology , alzheimer's disease , medicine , cognitive psychology , clinical psychology , audiology , disease , psychiatry , pathology
Unsupervised digital cognitive testing is an appealing means to capture subtle cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we describe development, feasibility, and validity of the Boston Remote Assessment for Neurocognitive Health (BRANCH) against in‐person cognitive testing and amyloid/tau burden. Methods BRANCH is web‐based, self‐guided, and assesses memory processes vulnerable in AD. Clinically normal participants (n = 234; aged 50–89) completed BRANCH; a subset underwent in‐person cognitive testing and positron emission tomography imaging. Mean accuracy across BRANCH tests (Categories, Face‐Name‐Occupation, Groceries, Signs) was calculated. Results BRANCH was feasible to complete on participants’ own devices (primarily smartphones). Technical difficulties and invalid/unusable data were infrequent. BRANCH psychometric properties were sound, including good retest reliability. BRANCH was correlated with in‐person cognitive testing ( r = 0.617, P < .001). Lower BRANCH score was associated with greater amyloid ( r = –0.205, P = .007) and entorhinal tau ( r = –0.178, P = .026). Discussion BRANCH reliably captures meaningful cognitive information remotely, suggesting promise as a digital cognitive marker sensitive early in the AD trajectory.