Development and Evaluation of a Computerized Test Battery for Alzheimer's Disease Screening in Community-based Settings

Abstract

Aim. To evaluate the capability of a computerized test battery for Alzheimer's disease screening which has been newly developed to provide a standardized and efficient method for widespread use in routine clinical and community-based settings. Methods. Participants were 72 individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and 102 healthy elderly individuals. Both groups were tested by the battery. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to examine the ability of the battery to differentiate between those with Alzheimer's disease and cognitively healthy elderly individuals. Results. On a group level, the Alzheimer's disease group performed worse than the control group on each of the 4 computerized test tasks. Receiver operating characteristic analysis yielded maximum sensitivity and specificity values of 96% and 86% for total scores, respectively. Conclusion. We believe the battery is very useful for routine clinical and community-based settings.