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Cognitive testing in the COVID-19 era: can existing screeners be adapted for telephone use?

Andrew J Larner
Published in: Neurodegenerative disease management (2020)
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.
Keyphrases
  • mild cognitive impairment
  • cognitive decline
  • coronavirus disease
  • sars cov
  • machine learning
  • big data