Newly self-administered two-step tool for screening cognitive function in an ageing Chinese population: an exploratory cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundEarly screening of cognitive function is critical to dementia treatment and care. However, traditional tests require face-to-face administration and are often limited by implementation costs and biases.AimsThis study aimed to assess whether the Thoven Cognitive Self-Assessment (TCSA), a novel, innovative two-step touchscreen-based cognition assessment tool, could identify early cognitive impairment due to dementia in older adults.MethodsThe TCSA was administered to 61 healthy controls (HCs), 46 participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 44 participants diagnosed with dementia recruited from Shanghai. Two outcome measures were generated from the TCSA test: the TCSAprimary taskscore and the TCSAsecondary taskscore.ResultsThe total average scores in the control group for the TCSAprimary taskand TCSAsecondary taskwere significantly higher than those in the MCI and dementia groups (TCSAprimary task: HCs vs MCI group vs dementia group, 8.58±1.76 vs 5.40±2.67 vs 2.74±2.11, F=75.40, p<0.001; TCSAsecondary task: HCs vs MCI group vs dementia group, 23.02±3.31 vs 17.95±4.93 vs 11.93±5.50, F=76.46, p<0.001). Moreover, receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that a score below 7.5 for the TCSAprimary taskand a score below 22.5 for the TCSAsecondary taskwere indicators of MCI.ConclusionsThe TCSA appears to be efficacious for the detection of cognitive impairment in older adults. It demonstrates the potential for large-scale cognition screening in community service settings.