Open AccessCognitive testing in the COVID-19 era: can existing screeners be adapted for telephone use?
Author(s) -
A. J. Larner
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
neurodegenerative disease management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.674
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1758-2032
pISSN - 1758-2024
DOI - 10.2217/nmt-2020-0040
Subject(s) - mace , cog , cognition , dementia , test (biology) , covid-19 , cognitive impairment , telehealth , medicine , psychology , computer science , audiology , telemedicine , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , paleontology , health care , myocardial infarction , conventional pci , economics , biology , economic growth
Aim: To examine whether two existing cognitive screeners might be adapted for telephone administration by omission of item content requiring visual cues or assessment. Materials & methods: Data from a test accuracy study of Mini-Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (MACE) and Free-Cog were used to derive scores for 'Tele-MACE' and 'Tele-Free-Cog'. Results: As in the index study, both Tele-MACE and Tele-Free-Cog proved sensitive for dementia diagnosis. Tele-MACE had a better balance of sensitivity and specificity than observed with MACE. Tele-MACE was sensitive for mild cognitive impairment diagnosis, whereas Tele-Free-Cog was more specific for mild cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Existing cognitive screeners may be adapted for telephone administration. Such developments may prove necessary in the COVID-19 era as remote rather than face-to-face cognitive assessment increasingly becomes the established norm.